Why Borussia Dortmund has won the transfer window
While big-name deals have dominated the headlines, Borussia Dortmund has quietly, methodically, pulled off the transfers of the summer.
While the world waits for Manchester United to reunite with Paul Pogba for more than a few zeroes too many, Borussia Dortmund has quietly set about compiling one of the most exciting attacking line-ups in Europe.
As usual, Dortmund has had to endure its annual migration of talent at the end of another runner-up finish to Bayern Munich last season.
Captain and star central defender Mats Hummels didn’t even wait to the end of the campaign to announce his move to the Bavarian giant. Injury-prone passing metronome Ilkay Gundogan soon followed his Germany team-mate out the door, joining Manchester City, before attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan upped and left for United.
Three players who would waltz into almost every national team and fans could be forgiven for wondering whether the Bundesliga had just become a one-horse race.
Then the signings started to arrive.
Reliable central midfielder Sebastian Rode was an astute grab from Bayern, where he struggled to hold down a place in a talent-cluttered position. He lacks the finesse of a Gundogan, but packs enough graft to command the centre and let the creative folk strut their stuff in front of him.
That brings us to the excitement machine linked with a veritable Forbes rich list of cashed-up clubs, Ousmane Dembele. The 19-year old winger lit up for Rennes last season and will soon have Dortmund fans forgetting Mkhitaryan’s name.
Portugal’s breakthrough UEFA EURO 2016 defender Raphael Guerreiro was next to arrive, from France’s FC Lorient, adding dash and the experience of winning a continental tournament to Dortmund’s left defence.
Marc Bartra’s job will be, in part to plug the gap left by Hummels, having arrived from Barcelona, where he struggled for pitch time in front of Gerrard Pique and Javier Mascherano. Bartra has found it difficult to crack Barca’s first team, but given more opportunities at Dortmund, he has the potential to do a 'Pique', and develop into one of the world’s premium play-making centre halves.
Turkish flyer Emre Mor is a talent for the future and his potential combination with Dembele and United States starlet Christian Pulisic will have Dortmund fans sweating a little less profusely over the thought of losing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marco Reus over the coming transfer windows.
Tuchel’s recruitment drive then got serious.
World Cup-winning attacking midfielder – he literally won the 2014 World Cup for Germany - Mario Gotze was wrested from Bayern Munich back to the bosom of the club where he became a star. At 24 years of age, he has the time and the tools to get there again. Winning back the fans’ love may be all the motivation he needs.
Osasuna’s Mikel Merino and 1860 Munich’s Jannik Bandowski add healthy competition for spots, while Polish winger Jakub Blaszczykowski returns from a loan stint at Fiorentina.
‘Kuba’ may yet be loaned back out, or sold, given the club has completed a major deal for Andre Schurrle, just to absolutely dispel any doubts about Dortmund’s attacking credentials.
Speaking of, Tuchel’s FIFA career mode assembly of young talent wasted little time quashing those one-team Bundesliga concerns, wiping the floor with Manchester United in a recent pre-season match.
Aptly, Mkhitaryan found the net for the Red Devils, something of a nod to his glittering contribution to Dortmund over the past three years. Albeit a brief flicker of quality amid an attacking onslaught his team could not overcome.
Of the new signings, Rode and Dembele started the 4-1 rout. Mor, Bartra and Merino came on from the bench.
With Schurrle, Gotze and Guerreiro to come, this Dortmund outfit packs some serious talent across the park, which will put it firmly in the frame to challenge for silverware on multiple fronts this season.
Pogba to United may be the headline move this window, but find me a club that has done better business than Dortmund.
Tuchel has deployed his team in a 4-5-1 formation in its two most recent pre-season matches, against United and 1860 Munich. Using that formation, this is how I would roll the team out, with Dembele, Mor and Pusilic headlining a star-studded bench.
