I have to say I really enjoy watching the Bundesliga. For me, it is one of the most, if not the most entertaining football league in the world. One of the teams I have grown massively fond of watching in the German top-flight is Dortmund. Despite always having a smaller budget than Bavarian giants and rivals Bayern Munich, BVB still manage to remain competitive, on and off the pitch.
Selling Pulisic may prove to be good business
The news yesterday that Dortmund’s USA international has joined Chelsea for a fee of around £57million came slightly unexpectedly. However, Pulisic had been linked with a move elsewhere for some time and the youngster has now secured a move to the Premier League.
Pulisic will remain at the German club until the summer. On paper, it looks like Dortmund are losing a highly rated young player, although the deal could prove to be very good business for the BVB, whose hierarchy have been very shrewd in the transfer market in recent years.
The youngster may well go on to become a great player in the future. Nevertheless, the USA starlet was out of contract in 2020 and he has struggled to nail down a place in the Dortmund starting line-up this season. Dortmund have received a big fee for a player who was not playing anyway, it looks like a very smart move for the German club.
Very good choice of coaches
Dortmund seem to have a habit of choosing good coaches, with the likes of Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and now Lucien Favre enjoying good spells in the BVB hot seat. The less said about Peter Bosz’s spell the better though.
BVB have a tendency to choose bosses by how they will fit in with the clubs football philosophy, rather than their profile. Former bosses Klopp and Tuchel both came from relative minnows Mainz. Both like to play attacking, possession-based football, even if they are very different characters.
Current boss Lucien Favre has built a very solid reputation for himself in spells with Hertha Berlin, Monchengladbach and now Dortmund. However, the Swiss boss has not exactly enjoyed a trophy-laden career thus far. The highlight of his career so far was winning back-to-back titles in his homeland with Zurich in seasons 2005-2006 and 2006-2007.
However, despite always working with small budgets, Favre has more often than not built exciting teams that have punched above their weight at times in their respective leagues. Favre’s style of play fitted perfectly with how Dortmund had played in the past and it has proven to be a good combination.
Shrewd in the transfer market
Dortmund have defied the odds this season by topping the Bundesliga table. BVB are currently six points clear at the top of the German top-flight table and favourites to win the Bundesliga title at odds of 8/11.
The fact that Dortmund can mount a title challenge despite big players consistently leaving the club shows just how well they are run as a whole. Last January, BVB lost Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Arsenal for a reported fee of £56million.
The Gabon striker was 28 years old at the time, so maybe BVB believed that they would never have a better chance of cashing in on the striker. Dortmund replaced him by signing Michy Batshuayi on loan from Chelsea, which proved to be a decent short-term move, as the Belgian striker prove to be relatively successful at the German club.
BVB then signed Spanish striker Paco Alcacer on loan from Barcelona this summer after struggling to finance a permanent deal for Batshuayi. The 25-year-old has proven a massive success scoring 12 goals in as many Bundesliga appearances this season. A fee of around £21million has been agreed for the striker to join BVB on a permanent deal this summer.
The move looks to be yet another shrewd move by the German club, who have become masters of spotting talents and hidden gems before selling them on at a profit to keep the club financially stable.
Dortmund have not always challenged for the German title in recent years, but they have never been far away from the top of the table. Everybody at the club deserves massive credit, as at the moment they are the perfect mould for how a European club should be run.
Are Dortmund the best run club in the top echelons of European football?
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