BVB Edition: End of Transfer Window Roundup

Dortmund’s transfer window was interesting, as Zorc and Watzke sought players with mettle and with formidable defensive prowess in order to stabilize the defensive side of the game that ended up haunting the team so often last year. While the right idea, the finalization of a transfer for a forward happened way too late, and should have been a higher priority from BVB management from the start. BVB cannot add more players at the current time, but players can still leave to several other leagues around Europe, albeit leagues that may not be able to afford their current wages.

Players joining the club:

Abdou Diallo - €28m (from Mainz)

Thomas Delaney - €20m (from Werder Bremen)

Axel Witsel - €20m (from Quanjian)

Marius Wolf - €5m (from Frankfurt)

Paco Alcacer - €2m loan fee, €23m option to buy (from Barcelona)

Marwin Hitz - free transfer

Achraf Hakimi - two year loan (from Real Madrid)

Players leaving the club:

Andriy Yarmolenko - €20m (to West Ham)

Sokratis - €16m (to Arsenal)

Mikel Merino - €7m (to Newcastle)

Gonzalo Castro - €5m (to Stuttgart)

Nuri Sahin - €1m (to Werder Bremen)

Andre Schürrle - two year loan (to Fulham)

Felix Passlack - loan (to Norwich)

Erik Durm - free transfer (to Huddersfield)

Roman Weidenfeller - retired

I think all of us would like to thank each of the players who have left the club permanently for their time at the club and wish them all the best in the future. We would like thank Weidenfeller, especially, for his extended time at the club and wish him a great retirement.

The overall net spend of the club over the summer was a loss of €25.1m over the window, as a lot of the additions into the squad were not balanced out with any major sales this summer.

Despite Bosz, Stöger, Zorc, and Favre all calling the squad bloated over the last year, the size of the roster has only grown, now to the overall size of 29, up from about 25 or 26 the season before. Despite the overall increase in current squad size, quality in some areas is still lacking, as new potential fullbacks and a possibly a forward are at the forefront of next year’s window.

On top of the management change, the squad overhaul, and overall club rebuild, BVB brought in several new front office faces, including Matthias Summer and Sebastian Kehl, both club legends in their own right.

What are your thoughts on the window? Which is the worst or best transfer?