The Daily Bee (August 8th, 2018): BVB win against Zürich but lose to Napoli

• BVB’s continuous search for a striker

Axel Witsel has arrived and BVB’s squad is nearly complete, however the black and yellows still need to add a centre forward to the mix. Zorc’s search for a striker has been difficult thus far and BVB’s sporting director has commented on the current situation (comments made to DPA): “On one hand we have players like Marco Reus and Maximilian Philipp on our squad who can score a lot of goals. On the other hand I have to work within the financial boundaries set by the club. We have already spend a lot more money than we earned this year. [...] International top strikers, I have to be honest, are at the moment almost impossible for Borussia Dortmund.”

Nevertheless Zorc refused to rule out more moves before the transfer window ends on August 31st, “I’m doing this job for almost two decades and have rarely said before August 31st ‘that’s it’. Why should I restrict myself? In principle the ‘rebuild’ that we want will take two summer transfer periods. It’s really important that we have realistic expectations.”

Meanwhile BVB have been linked to Pedro from Fluminense Rio de Janeiro by FOX Sports. The outlet claims the Brazilian club want at least 20€ million for the 21-year-old striker and a representative is already in Germany to negotiate a possible deal with Dortmund. This season he has scored 11 goals in 18 games for Fluminense.

• One win, one loss for BVB

Yesterday Dortmund played two friendlies, winning the first 4-3 against FC Zürich and later on losing 1-3 to SSC Napoli.

Both performances were a bit similar, solid on offense with some fluid ball movement but mistakes and miscommunications on defense led to a bevy of goals for the opponents. Dortmund played a 4-3-3 system in both games, a line-up that we will almost certainly see once the season starts.

In the win against Zürich, Jacob Bruun Larsen once again stood out, scoring three goals. The Danish international is without a doubt one of the “winners” of the pre-season process and he’ll certainly get his chances during the season. Marco Reus added another goal in the victory. It’s noteworthy that Raphael Guerreiro played in midfield even though BVB did not have a left back available for the game (Schmelzer played against Napoli), Burnic played at left back instead.

Against Napoli, Dortmund generally dominated the game with some good combinations but Napoli took advantage of BVB’s mistakes on defense. The Italians scored 3 goals on just 4 shots. Towards the end of the game Dortmund looked tired and couldn’t prevent the first loss of the pre-season. Maximilian Philipp scored BVB’s lone goal of the game.

Daily Buzz: So far who has been BVB’s biggest surprise, both positive and negative, of the pre-seaon?