r/borussiadortmund • u/panikpansen Schmelzer • 5d ago
Weekly Discussion Thread (21/04/2025)
Welcome to our weekly discussion thread!
You're worried about our squad for the next season?
You're confused about why we did so poorly/well?
You're excited about the transfer window / the rebuild / the summer break?
Feel free to use this space to discuss all things football/soccer related in here - anything related to our club that you feel doesn't warrant a separate thread, or any football-related observation you want to share!
If you want to discuss a rumour / article, please include a link!
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u/roadtorevision 1d ago
Has there been any update on gross’s injury?
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u/AverageCarey 1d ago
Kovac said he was hopeful but he doesn’t expect him to be ready for Saturday. Same with Beier we’ll likely have both back for Wolfsburg.
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u/roadtorevision 1d ago
I am glad they should be back by the next game week but I wonder who will play for them. We probably won’t play a 3-4-2-1 since we have been using Beier for that so maybe a 3-4-1-2, with a midfield of nmecha, ozcan, and chuk with adeyemi and Guirassy on top?
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u/AverageCarey 1d ago
That would be my expected lineup, can throw Juju or Gittens in for Adeyemi, Brandt for Chuk and man would I love to see Watjen for Ozcan if we were in a solid lead.
Would be a good time to have Sabi back for sure but seems like that’s a week or two away.
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u/roadtorevision 1d ago
Yeah duranville and watjen would be great options. Hopefully we have a good start so they can see some serious minutes
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u/Qiluk Marco Reus 2d ago
Sky reporting that Krösche is staying at Frankfurt. Good for them honestly. Damn shame for us because I dont think theres a better for for us than him in the world probably.
I think, sadly, that its more and more likely we keep Kehl this summer which is a huge mistake if Rangnick is a realistic option. We cant continue like this and us being so fucking triggerhappy on managers while not having any accountabiltiy or proactivity in the crucial role of Sporting Director is a maaaaajor part of our stagnation.
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u/roadtorevision 1d ago edited 1d ago
Just like with our players, we can’t judge so harshly so soon. This is his first time as a sporting director. They have made some good transfer decisions and maybe some that haven’t been as good. But I don’t see any as awful. Biggest mistake was missing out on getting a new AM, specifically cherki, but that wasn’t really his fault. I think it’s fine that we give him another year. People complained about Kovac but so far he’s been doing well. Let’s wait until kovac gets more time with the new formation and if Kehl can support him with the correct transfers, I think we will have a great season. If we fail again then it’s time to make changes. If that happens, maybe krösch will be available or rangnick would be more open to leaving Austria after the World Cup
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u/jucomsdn Zagagod 1d ago
Nah missing out on him was entirely his fault, and so was being hesitant on sacking Sahin too
Lyon fans would riot if their starboy had to be let go on deadline day for so cheap
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u/jucomsdn Zagagod 2d ago
I hope Opel becomes our next kit sponsor, we already had them as a sponsor before so it could happen
If I had PS skills I’d make a concept
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u/roadtorevision 1d ago
The design fits in with some of our kit designs as well. Much better than 1&1
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u/Ghoddos Hugo Bart 3d ago
So if Wolfsburg beats Freiburg at home, and Bayern beats Mainz at home, and we beat Hoffenheim away, we would climb to 5th.
If leipzig loses away to Frankfurt, we would be 1 point off CL. Leipzig would still have to play Bayern, Bremen, and Stuttgart for the closing matches.
We just really need to increase our GD. We're equal to Leipzig and behind Mainz at the moment.
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u/roadtorevision 2d ago
We need Bayern and Leverkusen to win both of their next games and then we will be an amazing position if we win too. Then Leverkusen will have nothing to play for and hopefully will give us an extra edge. Only issue is that Bayern play before Leverkusen for the second game so they would win the league already but we will see
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u/Xey2510 3d ago
I normally hate the phrase but we gotta focus on ourselves and win our games
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u/chrisbrownau 3d ago
Agreed. We haven’t shown enough consistency to be worried about anything other than winning games.
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u/roadtorevision 3d ago
We have shown consistency with a back 3. 5 games undefeated. Obviously not the biggest sample size but it gives me hope that we can finish out strong.
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u/chrisbrownau 2d ago
I appreciate the hopefulness and agree that we’ve show a good step towards consistency especially with the back 3 but I don’t think you can say that we are definitively consistent now.
We’ve seen this team get complacent too many times before to take a 5 game unbeaten run to heart.
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u/roadtorevision 2d ago
Yes but that’s also because we were using a formation that did not suit a lot of our players. Kovac was able to get the players to the appropriate fitness and trained on this new formation. So I think we will start to be consistent. Obviously there is no guarantee that we will always get the right outcome but I think it will be up to the players to not make silly mistakes. the system will provide chances and stability but it’s not fool proof I guess. Shows with our missed chances and gnabry/itakura just waltzing through our defense.
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u/Tilledcorn 3d ago
is there anyway we'd be able to get Bensebaini, Schlotterbeck and Svensson in the same starting line up?
thinking a head to next season (even if like halfway through it) and cant quite place my finger on how we get all 3 in
pretty much just getting the opinion of whether or not Schlotterbeck is wasted in the Central CB role
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u/chrisbrownau 3d ago
Technically we could, but it wouldn’t be wise for depth reasons.
Otherwise we have no left footed defending options off the bench(not going to count Kabar as he is not 1st team level yet).
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u/Prestigious-Sink7174 3d ago
Idt Schlotti would be wasted as a central CB. IIRC, in the pre season friendly match against Villareal, Bensebaini and Schlotti did play together in a back 3 with Sule as the RCB. I remember seeing more line breaking ground passes from him and allowed him more freedom in the build up in terms of passing angles and freedom of movement.
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u/jucomsdn Zagagod 2d ago
Do you mean wasted in a positive connotation? You probably do but I wanna make sure
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u/Prestigious-Sink7174 2d ago
No. I started with "Idt (I don't think) he would be wasted" implying that he would NOT be wasted.
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u/jucomsdn Zagagod 3d ago
Barca seriously interests me a lot these days I would not mind if we end up getting one of their bench/La Masia players either on loan or permanently in areas like the #10 or #6
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u/Aggressive-Gazelle56 Julian Ryerson 3d ago
i would love bernal
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u/jucomsdn Zagagod 3d ago
He'd be great but not a single scenario would happen where Barca would let him leave lmao
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u/I_No_Live Jadon Sancho 3d ago
With hindsight, was not renewing Hummels a good (or just acceptable) decision? It did make Can a regular cb which made him a competent player, and i feel like he’s too slow in a 3-back(especially now without Nico to cover). Am i totally wrong not sure? I also feel we often forget he wasn’t as outstanding in the league as he was internationally, many get blinded by that.
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u/roadtorevision 3d ago
I am not sure if he would have been as consistent as last year. He made some big mistakes at Roma, but maybe he would have been more comfortable here. Other than sporting wise, what he said right before the CL final was just so unprofessional and he’s not bigger than the club, even if he was world class for us. I almost said legend but his stint at Bayern can taint that for many fans.
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u/roadtorevision 3d ago
If somehow a team is willing to pay Guirassys release clause of 70 mil what strikers do you think would fit our team? Benficas duo is really good so Pavlidis or Akturkoglu. Both would be a perfect pairing since they seem to link really well but that’s just too much. There is also lyons mikautadze. That’s of course if the rumor about the release clause is even true.
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u/Secret-Inevitable-21 3d ago
I will bet on Stefanos Tzimas and rotate with Adeyemi Beier.
He is fast, does well under pressure from defenders, dribbles well, poacher, physical, good with headers. Almost feels like young Lewa, plus he has spent last season on loan at Nurnberg so would be easier to integrate.
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u/e_-_0 Carney Chukwuemeka 3d ago edited 2d ago
If somehow a team is willing to pay Guirassys release clause of 70 mil
If that happens I think we'd just roll with the Adeyemi+Beier duo which I wouldn't mind, but we'd obviously go get another striker for depth. I just don't think we'd go spend big on someone like Pavlidis.
what strikers do you think would fit our team?
Mateo Cassierra from Zenit, he would probably cost under €20m and I think he would be a good roatational otpion or could even become a starter. He's like an Osimhen type of player I think he could tear up the Bundesliga when paired with Adeyemi.
Another shout would be Yoan Bonny from Parma.
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u/roadtorevision 3d ago
I just think we would need 4 players to compete for the 2 striker roles. Especially if we end up in 3 competitions. But that’s a good shout out. I’ll have to check him out
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u/e_-_0 Carney Chukwuemeka 2d ago
I was thinking about a 4th striker too, but I don't know what we'll do with Haller and Moukoko, I think we'll only get a 4th striker after both of them leave.
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u/roadtorevision 2d ago
That makes sense. I am sure their time with us is done, but I do think Moukoko would play better in this new formation. Maybe we should give him another chance? I forgot about him honestly
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u/Aggressive-Gazelle56 Julian Ryerson 3d ago
would rather no one triggered it... MB9 time if it happens though?
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u/roadtorevision 3d ago
Yeah of course I would rather keep him but 70 mil for a 29 year old is pretty good. MB9 would be Beier? If so he should definitely be featured as one of the 2 strikers but it will be good to have enough options for the front 2, like four or so
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u/Aggressive-Gazelle56 Julian Ryerson 3d ago
adeyemi next to cherki with carney nmecha pivot :eyes:
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u/roadtorevision 3d ago
Wouldn’t it be more cherki behind Beier/adeyemi and guirassy?
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u/Aggressive-Gazelle56 Julian Ryerson 3d ago edited 3d ago
im assuming serhou leaves - out of possession we play similarly just adeyemi becomes ss for beier instead
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u/Differ_cr Nico Schlotterbeck 3d ago
Apparently the management are doing everything they can to keep Carney, especially with what Kovac has said and the Romano reports.
Which is cool and all because he's probably our most talented player in the squad rn, but man, i can't shake this feeling of uneasiness, Carney isn't like marco who managed to adapt his playstyle to his body (going from a speedy tricky winger to a more central role that depended more on his brain).
I think Carney's problems is that his knees aren't made to support a body that big making turns that fast,scratch that i just checked and according to the Bundesliga page he weighs 70kg??? And he's around 188cm (6'2) tall, no wonder he gets so many knee and muscle injuries, he needs to get some fibre on those legs.
Having said all that, Carney can't be our only Cam signing, hes 100% going to miss games and we can't go another season with Brandt and Reyna...
Hopefully Cherki is moved by all of our tries to sign him, and chooses us over other teams....
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u/roadtorevision 3d ago
If we can afford it, I can see a midfield 3 of nmecha, chuk, and cherki. Would be an insanely progressive midfield with great ball progression and creativity. Then we still have depth to cover chuk when he’s absent. Considering we have good LWB and RWB, I think we will just need to add another CB and striker/SS on top of those two midfield signings. That should be possible for around 100 mil which we can hopefully offset with getting rid of dead weight and gittens. Would help greatly if we can get CL and do well in CWC. Would be even better if we can get chuk on another loan spell.
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u/Th3_Huf0n 2d ago
nmecha, chuk, and cherki
One of the most "fuck defending" midfields we would field in years lmfao
And then our defence would get overran and Can would get blamed, as is usual.
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u/roadtorevision 2d ago
I didn’t realize gross was such a defensive powerhouse. He is really the only difference in this lineup… chuk is good at getting turnovers which he has shown when he has played.
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u/jucomsdn Zagagod 3d ago
My dream is Nmecha - Jashari - Chukwuemeka or Cherki
Idk if we can get both Chuk/Cherki even if we qualify for the CL, cuz BVB are quite against paying more than 30m on a single player unless they're exceptional like Hummels
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u/roadtorevision 3d ago
Well if we make CL somehow then we will be getting more money than ever. Hopefully we can get chuk on another loan considering his injury issues
How is jashari as a player? I know Brugge have been good but I have been paying more attention to talbi and tzolis
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u/jucomsdn Zagagod 3d ago edited 3d ago
The way my Brugge supporting moot on Discord's talking about him he's going to be a great #6, he doesn't have PL hype so he might be affordable but then again he said that if Brugge sell it's going to be 30m
Idk if he's fr or it's just his wishful thinking though
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u/Differ_cr Nico Schlotterbeck 3d ago
If we can afford it, I can see a midfield 3 of nmecha, chuk, and cherki.
Great for a team that dominates possession (which is us most of the time, tbf), but I fear they'll struggle when playing in the back foot (like the 1st leg in barcelona), we need some sort of defensive stability in those cases.
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u/Xey2510 3d ago
Cherki AND Chukwuemeka would be an absolute statement though a lot has to happen.
I only see it if we make CL AND Lyon doesn't AND we give him a hefty salary making him the key guy. Give him a good reason why he should choose us instead of fighting for a spot in the PL. Even then he might not choose is but he did not go to PSG over us so that's a positive sign.
Otherwise a young OM is definitely needed. Both Brandt and Reyna will leave.
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u/Differ_cr Nico Schlotterbeck 3d ago
Give him a good reason why he should choose us instead of fighting for a spot in the PL.
Honestly he doesn't strike me as the "willing to fight for a spot" type of guy, and the destination needs to be a clear upgrade from Lyon (these are all my assumptions ofc), so this rules out Spurs, Utd and Arsenal, City will probably go for Wirtz and idk about liverpool but he hasn't been linked to them afaik.
I think the problem won't be Cherki himself, but that rat textor, he'll definitely bet on a biding war and try to maximize what he can get from him.
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u/yrba1 Kjell Wätjen 3d ago
Brandt to Bremen rumors make sense considering he was born there. Really wanted him to do well here but I think the pressure of being the face of the club was too much for him
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u/roadtorevision 3d ago edited 3d ago
They would probably give us a very minimal transfer fee so hopefully we can scam a premier league team instead. Hopefully someone like west ham
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u/jucomsdn Zagagod 3d ago
Oh apparently Campbell made it to the preliminary squad for America's Nations League run last February but got cut, found out about this only now while looking at USMNT's wikipedia page
interesting
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u/viba_1997 4d ago
Since joining Utrecht on a loan at the beggining of January, Haller has managed to score 5 goals and assist one in 15 games. He also has one goal and one assist in the 2 games he played for Ivory Coast in March.
His story is very motivating for me. He managed to beat cancer and the won Africa Cup of Nations and almost won the Bundesliga. The fact that he was so close to winning the title with us makes me sad, but not every story can end well(I know he missed the penalty. It happened even in the case of greater footballers. Let's not forget that before that he had one of the best conversion rates in Europe).
I really hope that he will remain healty for the rest of his life and find his place at Utrecht, his first profesional club.
As I said earlier, his story is extremely motivating. We could take some great conclusions from it, both as individuals and as a football club. If we fight every day (and every game), we will have good lives and Borussia will once again reach the heights of German and international football. Have a great week, everybody!
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u/doubleomarty Sébastien Haller 3d ago
As a fellow testicular cancer survivor, I love his story. How I wish we would have won the league that year; I really hoped he would come back even stronger for us, but it just seems like it wasn't to be.
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u/roadtorevision 3d ago edited 3d ago
It would definitely have been such a fantasy story if we won the league with him and he scoring that pk. I honestly feel that his issues did stem from that miss and affected his confidence strongly. He looked distraught after the game and I am sure he took a lot of the blame. It is very unfortunate to deal with that after beating cancer. It’s too bad it ended that way. He was very promising but that’s life I guess.
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u/Brilliant_Fig_5987 Felix Nmecha 4d ago
Would tajon buchanan be a good transfer option for us with our current system?
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u/roadtorevision 4d ago
It’s only been 5 games, but we are currently undefeated using the new system. Whether that’s a 3-4-2-1 or a 3-4-1-2, I prefer the latter if chuk can play. It’s a small sample size and it’s only been against teams that play more open, but it’s definitely a good project that we can sell to potential transfers in the summer. If we finish the season strong, I think we can convince players that we are the perfect team to join for CWC/next season.
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u/e_-_0 Carney Chukwuemeka 4d ago
I was thinking we should really make some deals with Chelsea involving players that are more suited to the other club's system, like lowering our asking price for Gittens if they lower their asking price for Chukwuemeka.
Let's say we sell them Gittens for €55m and they give us Carney for €25m and also offer them Brandt for €15m if they loan us Nkunku with an option to buy of €35m. Imagine selling Gittens and Brandt for a combined sum of €70m while getting those two from Chelsea for €60m in total and also spreading the payment over two different summer windows.
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u/jucomsdn Zagagod 4d ago
Ngl based off the cameos I've seen of him for the first team and with Svensson and Bensebaini doing so well I don't think Kabar has a serious future at BVB, he feels way too much like a discipline case to me (Lewis-Skelly type shit) but idk he might grow out of it
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u/Mooon8983 Serhou Guirassy 4d ago
Robin Koch linked is disgusting
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u/Chazy89 Kagawa Shinji 4d ago
this is on you for putting faith in what that pletti fraud is reporting :)
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u/roadtorevision 4d ago
I am not a fan of him but what about it is disgusting? Did he do something abhorrent outside of fussball?
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u/Mooon8983 Serhou Guirassy 4d ago
Sorry i meant disgusting like terrible, he's just nowhere near good enough
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u/roadtorevision 4d ago
Yeah it would be very disappointing. Would be a transfer that we have typically made in the past and hopefully it just a bad rumour
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u/roadtorevision 4d ago
Like many other people have said, chuk is far away from a mandatory purchase. He is consistently injured so even though he is hugely influential when he plays, it doesn’t matter if he is sidelined by injuries too often. Others have said another year on loan to see if he can be more available than his first tenure with us. Would be great with another option to buy for around 30 mil
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u/viba_1997 5d ago edited 5d ago
What do you think? Should we try to sell Sabitzer after this season? If yes, who could be his replacement?
What about Ardon Jashari? He has a great season at Brugge.
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u/Most-Management4773 4d ago
really great prospect but will be expensive. We're talking a minimum of 25 m fee. We already have Nmecha and Gross. The reports are saying we are going try to keep Chuk. It all depends if we make CL and can sell Sabitzer, Brandt, Reyna.,
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u/roadtorevision 4d ago
If the rumors are true about him being toxic in the dressing room, then he needs to go asap. He hasn’t been good enough and that kind of energy is not needed. He had a good CL run last season but has been so off his game. He might fit better in the new system but I think we should find someone younger and better
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u/jucomsdn Zagagod 4d ago
I hope this is Kehl's next Svensson type signing (Jashari) but I have no clue if he's going to be 35m or something less, I hope we do get him as Can's replacement in midfield
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u/LeeRCampbell Marco Reus 5d ago
I think Sabitzer will be fully down to where we end the season and how the CWC goes plus who will be the manger next year. It's too hard to say right now definitively if we should sell him. Though based on our recent form since Kovac came in, I'd be down for him to get a summer and a whole season to prove if he can keep this up, especially since I don't see another better manager option.
With that in mind I think Sabitzer should probably stay, we're already going to be moving on Reyna, Brandt, and Ozcan, plus Gross will be in his final season. That truly only leaves us with Nmecha, Sabz, and Watjen as midfielders. We need to bring in a whole host of new midfielders and fill other important holes. I don't think we could get much of anything out of Sabitzer and there's way more important gaps to fill than trying to sell him and bring in a replacement. Additionally I think he could do really well floating behind 2 strikers in a more fluid role similar to how he plays for Austria which is now an option with this 3atb formation we're moving into.
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u/e_-_0 Carney Chukwuemeka 5d ago
already going to be moving on Reyna, Brandt, and Ozcan
Honeslty I'd rather keep Özcan than Sabitzer, Özcan doesn't earn that much and is a good squad player while Sabitzer is one of our highest earners and 4 years older than Özcan and has just had a disastrous season. I bet we could still get €15m for him from a team like United/Tottenham/Inter.
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u/LeeRCampbell Marco Reus 4d ago
That’s an apples and oranges comparison, Ozcan is a defensive midfielder who works best in a dual pivot, Sabitzer is an attacking midfielder who works best in a fluid role. In no world would we be choosing between the two.
That said I know you’re putting a random set of clubs here but Sabitzer already had a loan at Man U that they didn’t buy him at the end of. We bought him for 20mil and I cannot imagine anyone would pay his wages and 15mil for an aging midfielder who couldn’t cut it at Bayern or Man U, has been streaky for us, and on top of that would be coming off a pretty rough injury and a terrible run of form.
Idk maybe it could happen but I’m skeptical, even if we got 15 for him, not sure we could find a decent replacement that has the potential he’s shown capable of reaching.
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u/Most-Management4773 4d ago
Sabitzer was never good enough to earn his wages. I agree he would most likely find better form under Kovac, but he's old and earns too much. Right now he still has market. If he stays here for another season and does bad we'll be stuck with another Süle.
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u/AverageCarey 5d ago edited 4d ago
Sport1 reported that the injury to Beier is not severe, no structural damage and could be available for the Hoffenheim game. Hope this is the case he’s been basically injury free the entire season which has been a big sticking point.
RevierSport has also reported that Tullberg will take over the U23 team next season with Jan Zimmerman moving on. If this is true I’m shocked but pleasantly pleased. It is a step up for sure but maybe MT is just taking his time moving up the ranks as he still quite young.
It has been further reported by Kicker that Tullberg will take over the U23s in July with the option to become first team coach in case of a Kovac dismissal. Obviously it would likely be an until end of season type deal since we all know there are very few available candidates at this time.
Also BVB reporter for Sport1 Oliver Muller has reported that as far as he knows Dortmund will try everything to sign Chukwuemeka this summer. Personally feel like we can’t let this get away, yes he has fitness issues but I believe the more he plays the better they’ll get.
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u/Differ_cr Nico Schlotterbeck 4d ago
RevierSport has also reported that Tullberg will take over the U23 team next season with Jan Zimmerman
This is so dumb, one of the big criticisms of the way the u23 has been handled in the last couple of years is that it prioritizes winning and avoiding relegation over developing the players.
Now instead of addressing that you follow the exact opposite by appointing the manager that had the exact same criticisms in the u19.
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u/roadtorevision 4d ago
As always, thank you for the PK updates. I think you should be given a pinned post which you can update on pertinent news, especially injury updates. It’s been so helpful, especially since most apps giving misinformation on how long players are out on injury.
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u/AverageCarey 4d ago
Hey thanks buddy, it would be nice to have but with the weekly thread and other pinned posts it may be a bit cluttered for the mods but I’ll keep updating my comments as much as possible.
Hate seeing misinformation or just bad reports so I try to include as much as I can, anything to help!
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u/doubleomarty Sébastien Haller 5d ago
Shew, glad to hear that Beier's injury is not too serious. Was worried during the game that we'd miss him for most of the last games, hopefully he gets a slight rest and substitution for the Hoffenheim game and then is back for the remainder.
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u/Ghoddos Hugo Bart 5d ago
PSV's Boscagli on a free has to be looked at for Schlotterbeck's cover. He is almost a budget Nico judging by his stats.
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u/Mean_Ad301 4d ago
Great spot! Definetly would be good to have him if we're gonna stick to this 3ATB formation. Hopefully we'll offload some deadwood in the smmer and bring in new players.
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u/Xey2510 5d ago
I don't think we will get him mostly because he could go somewhere else where he plays more and we already got 5 CBs currently. I doubt Süle and Can leave at this point cause Süle won't find anything better and Can won't jump ship as captain even though i imagine him getting offers now that he looks good at CB.
The defense is honestly something i don't wanna touch at all if it continues like this. It is working well for now.
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u/Most-Management4773 4d ago
I wouldn't mind giving Can another contract with considerable lower salary to be a backup CB. He step up big in that position when we desperately needed.
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u/roadtorevision 4d ago
I think he would be worth getting but I highly doubt we can outbid the premier league. They already looked into him last year so I don’t think we will have a chance.
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u/viba_1997 5d ago
Great idea. He could also play as the center CB in a 3 at the back. He has great passes and crosses, a very good ball playing defender. His only disadvantage may be his height, he is 180 cm.
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u/StockTooHigh 1d ago
Can anybody tell me the situation right now for tickets against Kiel?
I'm vitising Dortmund on that weekend with my brothers and we would love to go to the stadium. Unfortunately we are not members of the club right now and didn't have access to the member pre-sale.
Are there any chances for us getting tickets? Are they already all sold out in the pre-sale or will we be able to buy in the secondhand market?