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- Merino to Stuttgart?
There were a lot of rumors during this transfer window about a potential move for our young midfielder. The 20-year-old didn't get a lot of minutes during the Hinrunde even though a lot of his fellow CMs were missing time with various injuries. He need minutes to develop and a potential move is not off the table just yet.
The latest team to join the race for the young Spaniard is VFB Stuttgart. Hannes Wolf, the coach of the 2.Bundesliga-team and ex-coach of BVB II revealed during an interview with the "Stuttgarter Nachrichten" that they are trying to lure Merino to Stuttgart even though it will not be easy to get him. There are many interested teams and Dortmund will reportedly only agree to a loan move without any release-clause. Zorc & Co. see him as an important piece in the future and considering his talent and potential to grow into a great player it's easy to see why. Although a loan until the end of the season or maybe even for 1.5 years might be a good idea. Guerreiro and Rode are back in training, Weigl and Castro are already ahead of him on the depth chart and Sahin will return at some point in the future.
- Borussia Dortmund vs Standard Liège
BVB will play their second friendly during their preparation for the second half of the season tomorrow. The 10-time champion of the Belgian Jupiler Pro League is an interesting team with a lot of very young players that could develop into intriguing players in the future. They've had a shaky season until now sitting in sixth-place in the league right now and will look to improve on that in the coming months. They're basically the Dortmund of Belgium right now.
- Lars Ricken talks about the youth development
Lars Ricken: "We are leading the way at youth level“ https://t.co/lHKpvX5urD pic.twitter.com/eO0rJ4lGPq
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) January 10, 2017
BVB.de published a very interesting interview with Dortmund legend Lars Ricken who is the youth coordinator for the club since 2008. Ricken who has played his entire career for Dortmund and who clinched the clubs 1997 Champions League triumph with the decisive goal is an essential part of the clubs development into one of the best youth departments of the world. Since he's been in charge Dortmund has seemingly developed world-class talents every year with Pulisic and Passlack being the more recent examples. He acknowledges as much during the interview saying "we are setting the standards at the youth level".