Only way Dortmund should let Pulisic leave in the winter is if they have identified a ready-made replacement who would be able to step right in and contribute considering that the team is still alive in all 3 competitions and fighting for the league title. However, that ready-made replacement has to be either a quality young BL player (Brandt, etc.) or s young established player from another top 5 league (Ismaila Sarr from Rennes). Both options would most likely require a team record transfer fee making it really a lateral move. A prospect like Pedrinho (rumored to BVB) that needs development and seasoning would not make sense as a replacement in the winter period if it means selling Pulisic but should be bought and developed for next season as a squad depth option.
I really don't understand why everyone seems to be hung up on Brandt … Thorgan Hazard's contract is up in 2020. Y not let Pulisic go this summer and use those funds to go after him instead ? I think people overlook the fact that Hazard has been tearing up the Bundesliga for a number of seasons now. And if no larger clubs are in for him, I'de much rather prefer to see him join even if it ended up costing the club 30 - 40 mil for a player who is in the last year of his contract.
If there's one thing that's really bothering me about the many transfer rumours I've been reading in the last few posts it's that none of the players mentioned are German, and apart from you guys mentioning Brandt as a possible Pulisic replacement I can't find any reports of BVB showing any serious interest in him. The reason for my concern is that BVB is a German club and should therefore be made up predominantly of German footballers. Right now the only German who's an undisputed starter in the squad is Reus, whilst the other Germans who could become permanent starters (Dahoud, Philipp, Weigl, Wolf if he could be successfully converted to RB thus solving the problem of an aging Piszczek) are far too inconsistent.
Its quite obvious why Zorc said Pulisic will not be leaving in winter. To raise his price. I am sure Chelsea (given the situtation with Abramovic) has lowballed BVB. Pulisic has made it clear he does not want to extend because he wants to play in England (read: make more money). So now BVB want to offload him for the highest possible return. If Reus, Witsel, Akanji, Diallo, Raphael, Bürki, Dahoud, Sancho wanted to leave then I would believe Zorc. These guys are all core players.
I think some would be surprised, but I actually agree with you. If there was no chance of getting a replacement, then I would eat the possible £20 million loss and keep Pulisic. Winning the Bundesliga and getting to the CL last 8 is more important than the extra £20 million pounds we might pocket, especially in the long run. In fact the CL run could go a long way to cover some of that on it's own. BVBFNM explains part of it. The priority of the club should be to find the best players wherever, they can find them and no matter the nationality. The goal should be to get the best player possible for Dortmund no matter where he comes from, but there is an added bonus in having players from the home country. As for Brandt, as I said before he has a lot of negatives and the biggest one is his fitness and related to that his mentality. You can just look at him and see he is not looking after himself. He is often overweight and his fitness is awful. There is never an excuse for a top footballer to have a belly. It's a sign of his poor attitude as was his decision to wimp out of the move to Liverpool. That being said Brandt is very, very young and if his attitude can be fixed he could be a great player. He doesn't seem to be a bad disruptive personality, just lacks professionalism about his fitness and drive. I think these can be cured especially the older he gets. At the moment we have a very professional hard working team. Guys like Reus, LP, Witsel and Delaney clearly look after themselves and train very hard. Wolf is probably another good trainer. I think Brandt in this environment and stepping up to the big time is more likely to knuckle down. It's a gamble. The faults in his game are mainly due to fitness, not tracking back, not being consistent and not running enough. Sometimes he lacks speed. I think he is worth the gamble, but there are many other wingers. Chiesa and Lorenzo being just two, but I am not familiar with them. I am sure the club have looked at them and if Pulisic leaves at any point will decide what's best.
The problem is that the German prospect pipeline has stalled with Werner and Havertz being the only one's of note. Gnabry, Kehrer, and Henrichs are some others that you can classify as "class" but that's it. Here's the roster of Germany's U-21 team that played Italy yesterday: https://www.dfb.de/u-21-maenner/team-und-trainer/ Besides Dahoud and Henrichs, there is no other players that stand out or that are Dortmund caliber. The U-19 roster: https://www.dfb.de/u-19-junioren/team-und-trainer/?no_cache=1 There's really nothing of note. One potential player to keep an eye on would be Arne Meier from Hertha Berlin but that's about it. What young player (23 and younger) would you think Dortmund should be targeting?
Gotze has not shown the quality. Kagawa hasn't been given much chance, so maybe he could, but I don't think Favre is sitting him "just cuz".
Watzke talked about the intention to use the good relationship to Real to keep Hakimi after the loan but conceded that it will be hard. I think RM might have a need in the next two years on that position as well. But that would make 3 out of 4 positions in defense covered by young players who could grow together and build a nice core for years with player like Sancho and Dahoud, maybe Weigl as well if he finds his way back into form.
Kagawa says that he "cannot retire without having played in Spain", having begun to learn the language and visiting the country on several occasions recently. I guess that rules out other destinations e.g. Besiktas.
I really want the 70 75 80 million Pulisic rumors to be true. Starting to think I will be disappointed if no club ponies up a crazy sum.
With Chelsea's potential transfer ban hovering above them I can see a "Keita" deal happening where we sell him this winter but conditional on him playing in Dortmund through the rest of the season.
I suppose one way it could work if Chelsea is desperate: Chelsea pays an extra ~20M Euro above market to buy Pulisic in the winter CP is loaned back immediately to BVB for the rest of the season with little or no rental fee, while Chelsea pays his (increased) wages CP "returns" to Chelsea in the summer, ostensibly circumventing a transfer ban
A good summary of potential winter exits: https://fussball.news/artikel/geruechte-um-bvb-reservisten-wer-wirklich-zu-haben-ist/ Gomez: no chance of a sale, a loan not very likely at the moment either Isak: a sale might be more likely than a loan at this point, seeing as he hasn't impressed any of his 4 managers at BVB to date Kagawa: BVB will honor his wish to leave and happily save his wages, but he may have to modulate his expectations on where he lands (Kagawa has declared he will go to Spain) Philipp: Stuttgart are said to be interested in a loan, but Dortmund paid a good sum not long ago and he could yet be useful for the squad going forward Rode: no one out there wants to buy him or pay his wages. BVB may have to work out a buyout of his contract (which runs until 2020), paying a good portion of his remaining salary. Toljan: likely transfer in the summer. Potential interest this winter, coming down to whether he feels it's worth it to stick around for the rest of the season
of all those listed, only Kagawa is a 100 percent going.. the rest of them have to be the right situations.
I feel sorry for Philipp, because I feel he is one of the few if not the only player Favre hasn't given a fair chance. We are weak there, so why not let him have a go. It seems like there is a good chance of a bidding war for Pulisic. Hopefully United's poor form and CL exist forces both to move for him in January. I would move both Philipp and Pulisic on in January if we could get a proven replacement.
According to the Ruhr Nachrichten, Chelsea has officially approached Dortmund regarding Pulisic but the bid was supposedly well below Dortmunds initial 80m valuation
Well, I think we all saw this coming ... Sell in January and loan him in for the rest of the season. Or just let him go if Leverkusen are willing to release Hazard in January. Out: Rode, Isak, Toljan, Wolf, one of Guerreiro or Schmelzer, one of Kagawa or Gotze, and Pulisic ... possibly Weigl? if he doesn't kick on. In: Thorgan Hazard, Timo Werner, and Phillip Max. I really don't see Pulisic being given the time to succeed at Chelsea, but he seems set on a move. The intrigue ...
Are we good enought to make a move for any of the AJAX kids? I mean all I keep hearing is the big EPL teams and Real and Barca.. Why not us? We have the money to get players like them. Seems we would especially have the money to get a Havertz, Werner, Max or Dolberg, De Jong, Van De Beek, De Ligt, or Kluivert... Is it because we havent won any hardware in a while? I think we have a great profile. Getting past knockout rounds and into final 8 has to raise our profile and spending money would only let other players like them that we are serious when it comes to being top flight. Is it out of the realm of possibility for us to go out and get one of these young stars? We would certainly have the money if we sold both Pulisic and Weigl right?
Because we don't print money like big EPL clubs and Real Barca with their broadcast deals and commercial takings. Why join a bidding war for extremely hyped players, do we have more money than sense? Even Bayern do not do that. If Pulisic was on sale for 80 million they would not buy him but some EPL club might. We cannot match what Chelsea or Barcelona offer in yearly salaries to these players. You can buy two wingers that are less hyped and as good, for the price of one Pulisic. Same for De Ligt. He could be worth every cent but Dortmund cannot afford to spend 60 million on a center back who could be a flop or have a big injury. Some clubs can afford it. I think Philip Max is a Schalker, Dolberg has some injury history. I don't know who it was that suggested we buy Piatek but nobody is talking about him after his hot streak ended.
Good news for Pulisic and Dortmund, he was voted second best under 21 player in the world after Mbappe. Some Kopa trophy. It should help him get the move he wants. Good for Dortmund's reputation among top young players looking to make a step up.
I dont have issue with what you are saying... But we bitch and moan about being a better club yet when money is brought up, we talk about how we cant afford shit. Honestly dude, if we want to consistently compete in the CL for trophies then we would have to spend some money. Talking about it is one thing, but ponying up the cash to consistently compete is another. I get so tired of hearing how we should be doing this and should be doing that... there is nothing but an a open check book separating us from a couple of teams to win some Champion League trohpies. Why not Dortmund? Short sighted thinking and the cheap ownership will relegate this team to doing nothing more than competing for a Pokal, Bundesliga every couple of years while not really doing anthing of merit. We deserve more. We deserve a product on the field that represents the interests of its fanbase.