The Daily Bee: Borussia Dortmund Preparing Shortlist of Erling Haaland Replacements

Good Morning Fear The Wall

It was recently reported that Borussia Dortmund are hoping to keep hold of their star striker, Erling Haaland, beyond this summer, but part of that reporting was the acknowledgement that it might not be possible, and the fact that the club are making preparations for life after Haaland. In his latest podcast episode, Patrick Berger has shed some light on what BVB are doing to prepare for the possibility of losing Haaland, including some of the targets they are currently keeping an eye on.

Some of those names include Kasper Dolberg, Lautaro Martinez, and Anthony Martial. The club is apparently willing to spend up to €40m on Haaland’s replacement.

Outside of Martinez (who it is acknowledged is probably too expensive), none of these names really fill me with hope. The reality is that whoever they buy, they’re not going to be Erling Haaland, so it’s always going to be a step down, but hopefully we don’t see Anthony Martial leading the line for BVB...

Germany Decides!

As some of you may know, Germany went to the polls on Sunday to elect the members of their lower chamber, the Bundestag. While we are a football blog, we also like to acknowledge the wider context in which football and football culture exists. Which is why I thought I’d do a short roundup of what happened in Sunday’s election, for those that are unfamiliar.

The German federal elections were particularly notable this time around, as they will decide the successor to Angela Merkel, who has served as Chancellor since 2005. During that time, the Christian Democrats have governed in a grand coalition (with the other major party, the Social Democrats) in four of the five legislative sessions. It is expected that either the SPD’s Olaf Scholz or CDU’s Armin Laschet will become the new Chancellor, once the dust has settled.

The results show a center-left surge, with the SPD, FDP, and the Greens all making relative gains, and perhaps most notably of all, it tells a story of the growing fragmentation in the German party system. There are also some very interesting stories around the shift of Merkel voters away from the Christian Democrats, and also the significant differences in party support across different age groups.

Neither of the two biggest parties (SPD and CDU/CSU) surpassed 30%, and it is likely that we will see a three-way coalition, with the FDP and the Greens as the kingmakers, and one of either SPD or CDU/CSU forming the largest bloc of the coalition.

We won’t know exactly how that will take shape for some time, as the negotiations are ongoing, however it does look more likely that we will see a “traffic light” coalition of SPD + FDP + Greens.

The Daily Buzz

Who is your preferred candidate to replace Angela Merkel Erling Haaland?