We are looking to sign the immigrant. Fingers crossed. (hope this doesn't overstep any political correctness that needs to be upheld here). Obviously it's a reference to Mo Dahoud.
Are the german titles really necessary? It makes the name very long and not everyone here knows german.
No but it's incredible that he arrived here 10 months old as a refugee and is now playing in the CL. Hats off to him. Also if I were German I'd be really proud of the multiculturalism in this country.
Absolutely. The term immigrant can be used in a negative way by some people, that's all I'm saying. I prefer not to refer to players ethnicity when it comes to football as I don't see it as relevent.
Fair enough. From what I've seen of Dahoud, if you can get him for 15m plus a player then you defnitely should, he's going to be a top player and very much in demand come this summer. Given that Dortmund haven't generally done much business in January in recent years, do you think this deal will actually happen this window? Is the ambition there at board level to pull this off?
We've always bought a player in January over the last few years. Regardless of the outlay, the signing was always intended to be a key addition to the squad. Last year we bought Mikel Merino to backup our defence and CDM (we couldn't get the deal done in time though), the year prior it was Kevin Kampl for additional firepower. In 2014 it was Milos Jojic to replace an injured Gundogan. In 2013 it was Nuri Sahin for CM depth and in 2011 it was Leitner for virtually the same. In 2012 we did try to lure Reus a bit early but BMG wouldn't let him go. We were fully expecting to let Lewandowski go in the summer and wanted replacement firepower ASAP even though Jurgen Klopp had no intention of playing Reus as a striker. We do aim for key players but are rarely successful because of either being cheap or making poor decisions. But Dahoud looks like the real deal. And if we don't so it now it might be too late in the summer. Goretzka isn't coming and i don't think we are getting Tielemans.
We can make do with using RG in a more creative role for the Champions League - but we need to make a move for a an 8 over the winter break. From my perspective, we have a lot of "non-core" players that may also be looking for a move out. Subotic - I have so much respect for this guy both as a player and as a person, but he'll likely move on this winter. Merino - I don't understand why we picked him up and yet he's permanently nailed to the bench. At minimum he needs to be put out on loan to get some playing time. Sahin - Again a player I hold in high regard, but unless he's in Tuchel's plans, he deserves a chance to move elsewhere. I could see him not moving until this summer, unless he becomes part of the Dahoud deal.
Ugh... He could've been useful right now if Klopp had played him at his real position and we had recognized his true value.
I agree you've done some January business in the past, but it's never been key/big money signings, certainly none that instantly improved the starting team. Is the ambition there to make this deal happen mid season, will the board be prepared to pay more if BMG play hard ball?
The intention was always there to have somebody who could contribute right away. And I believe that will be the driving force behind a move in this winter. We are on course to take in 414M in revenue at the end of this season. We can afford to pay a bit extra for Dahoud and we will be moving some players as well. It should actually be the fear of missing out on top 4 that should drive us to sign Mo in the winter, not the money.
Tell me about it. As soon as I saw we signed Castro just to see Kampl head the other way I knew it would be a stupid mistake. Leverkusen fans mocked us on social media ffs.
That's the question there. But there are a couple things that potentially indicate "yes", namely that: 1. We are currently out of the CL spots. Major damage will be done if we fail to make the CL next year. 2. Liverpool and others have been putting out feelers, according to the media. Watzke has urgency that "hey, this may not be an option in the summer". 3. Dahoud, according to Bild, has a release clause of 8.5mil next summer. In other words, this may be BMG's last chance of getting any sort of truly significant money for him. Plus, he's been in and out of the starting lineup, which only hurts his value further.
It is a german club but this is not a german forum, if everyone's comments were in german I wouldn't have pointed it out. Anyway, I hope we get Dahoud but I don't think he will solve all our problems nor IS the difference between top4 and challenging for the title.
Dahoud is a must signing as most people on here agree on. He would be the difference between fighting for the title and fighting for top 4. Manchester United looked incredibly impressive today playing a 4-2-3-1. Fantastic interchange between the front 4. I would argue that Dortmund actually have better players than United and can similarly play brilliant football in the same formation.
Perhaps more importantly I think Tuchel is a better coach - meaning that with the right squad he can really do some damage.
Tuchel needs to prove himself a bit more IMO. There are tendencies to overthink and overcook his lineups that I think are damaging this team right now. I think he can be a great manager, but not before he corrects some things.
Fair comment - and I agree. With that said, I think a cerebral coach like Tuchel thrives with better and more mature players..... which is one of the reasons I believe he is struggling this year. Tuchel's weakness is he likes perfection - which is hard to accomplish playing with 19 y/o's. I just believe that if you pitted Tuchel and Mourinho against each other with like for like squads..... Tuchel is the better coach. With that said, it's TT's job to adapt to his squad to a large extent, and he has not done a great job of that this year. BTW - Is there still an option open for Torres?
I think there is also a difference in squad building ability. I don't think mourinho would have gone for Castro, Schurrle or Rode (hopefully not Toprak) even if he had a low budget. Not considering that, I believe it is still too early to judge TT.
Mourinho has been at the richest clubs in the world for the last 10 years and he did sign Schurrle. So the comparison can't be made. Mourinho is usually great in the transfer market, but even he has his fair of stinkers. I really hope we think again about Toprak. I would favour going in big for Tah. It seems Sule has caught the eye of Chelsea, whilst we would only have to compete with Liverpool for Tah. Not sure if this is mentioned but it is pretty much confirmed that Liverpool did bid £11 million for Pulisic and will be in for him again in the summer. That situation needs to be sorted out quickly.