The Daily Bee (July 26th, 2017): Mor and Merino on their way out?

• New transfer rumors

We all knew some players would have to leave us before the season starts. The squad is just to big right now, some players won’t get a lot of minutes which means unhappy players that could affect the entire team. BVB simply can’t have that.

That’s why some players will probably leave Dortmund this summer. Now kicker reports that both Emre Mor and Mikel Merino are candidates to move before the transfer window closes.

Emre Mor is a peculiar case. The 20-year-old winger is clearly talented but according to kicker the BVB officials are worried about his lack of improvement. He’s been with the club for over a year but he’s still the exact same player that he was last summer, an exciting young player that refuses to pass the ball and generally just prefers to run into a wall of opponents and hope for the best. That’s not what this team is all about and it is hard to imagine him getting a lot of minutes this season considering he is way behind Pulisic, Dembélé, Schürrle, probably Philipp and possibly even Bruun Larsen on the depth chart. And that is without Marco Reus who will come back at some point during this season.

A loan move would probably be the best option for Mor with Wolfsburg, Fenerbace Istanbul and Celta Vigo said to be interested.

As for Mikel Merino, some reports from Spanish outlets suggest that he has requested a move away from the black and yellows. However Merino apparently does not want to leave on loan but would prefer a permanent move. Athletic Bilbao is interested to bring the midfielder back to Spain and they are apparently willing to pay 8-10€ million for Merino.

It would be sad to see him go but with a Weigl/Dahoud pairing probably getting most of the starting minutes in midfield with Sahin, Castro and Rode also still on the squad it looks unlikely that Merino will break into the first eleven.

• BVB “fan”-group dissolved

The infamous Dortmund ultra/hooligan-group RIOT0231 has been dissolved according to a press release from the group itself. The group was famous for their involvement in various questionable incidents in the Borussia Dortmund fan scene. In addition the group has threatened various BVB-employees, one of them being Hans-Joachim Watzke.

Dortmund has some worrying incidents this season, most notably before the RB Leipzig game and on the away trip to Darmstadt where weapons and drugs were found in their bus on the way to the game. The police made several house searches in recent months and it is to be believed that the group would have been dissolved by the interior ministry because of their violent and criminal ways.

Daily Buzz: The Champions League draw simulator is back!

Disclaimer: The pots are not yet final because the playoffs still have to be played but the pots are filled with the teams that are expected to go through, so these will probably change. However it is decided that Dortmund will be in Pot 2.

So let’s give it the old college try and see what happens:

Chelsea, BVB, Dinamo Kiev, Feyenoord Rotterdam

That’s not bad. Give it a try and tell me what you got.