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The Daily Buzz (December 14th, 2017): Reus, Durm and Piszczek back in training

AFC Sunderland  v Borussia Dortmund  - Friendly Match Photo by Deniz Calagan/Getty Images
  • BVB-stars visit hospital

The entire team of Borussia Dortmund, players and coaches took some time for their yearly visit to the children’s hospital in Dortmund. There isn’t much to say about it other than it being a really great thing.

  • Hey look who’s back!

Well isn’t that a nice surprise, Marco Reus, Lukasz Piszczek and Erik Durm all trained with a ball yesterday. They won’t appear in a game this year anymore but it’s a good sign that they are at least able to work with a football at their feet. They could possibly be ready in January when the Bundesliga resumes but we should be careful with predictions especially for Reus and Durm.

  • Watzke interview

Hans-Joachim Watzke appeared as a guest on Ruhr Nachrichten’s sports talkshow “19:09 - der schwarzgelbe Talk” yesterday and he had a few interesting things to say.

“Aki” received a fair share of criticism over the past year and especially in recent months and honestly he seemed a bit low-spirited ever since the Tuchel-incident. The Bosz-spell didn’t help matters but during this interview it seemed like the old Watzke was back and he didn’t mince words.

Talking about his own position he stated that he would be open to an extension if Dr. Reinhard Rauball (BVB president) would approach him. His current deal expires in 2019. He also hit back at his critics, admitting that he also made mistakes in the past, especially the Bosz-hiring but he also pointed towards the achievements this club had since he took over. This is probably a good point considering he took over a club on the brink of a financial collapse and a decade later, the club has won 2 Bundesliga titles, 2 DFB Cup titles and is financially stable.

Moreover he denied any deal with Julian Nagelsmann, the rumored choice for the coaching job next summer which isn’t all that surprising. Even there was some sort of handshake-deal between BVB and Nagelsmann, Watzke couldn’t possibly admit to it right now.

The entire show is very interesting to watch and without construing too much into a single interview, it did seem like the “old” Watzke was back. The one that got this team to where it is now and the one that isn’t afraid to hit back at other sport personalities, players, the media or even fans.

Daily Buzz: Should Watzke stay?