Watzke won´t give up on keeping Hummels

Borussia Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke says the club has not given up on retaining Mats Hummels after the captain announced his desire to join Bayern Munich.

The worst fears of Dortmund supporters were realised this week when the Germany international stated his intention to seek a move to the Bavarian giants, who have already lured Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski to Allianz Arena from Signal Iduna Park in recent years.

Former Bayern youth team player Hummels, who made one senior appearance for the club before joining Dortmund, initially on loan, in 2008, is under contract until the end of next season.

And while Watzke acknowledged the reasons behind the centre-back’s wish to return to Munich, the Dortmund chief also insisted a transfer is by no means guaranteed.

“So far he only told us his wish, nothing else,” the chief executive was quoted as saying by Sky.

“And we have to see whether his wish will materialise. It is a fact that Munich is his home and you have to accept that.

“Nevertheless we would still love him to play here. And the chance of him staying here is not as small as people think. Still, it is not gigantic.

“We will have talks with Bayern Munich. I have pretty clear ideas. There are only two options – either these ideas materialise 100 per cent or there will be no transfer.

“We are in contact with Bayern, I can say that. I expect a solution pretty quickly. Mats is our player and everybody should respect that.”

Bayern chief executive Uli Hoeness did little to curry favour with Dortmund regarding the issue when he said: “If somebody comes knocking on your door you should let him in.”

And Watzke was not impressed by his counterpart attempting to pressure Dortmund into facilitating the move. 

“I don’t know how Mats is dealing with the situation,” he said.

“What I heard from Munich yesterday sounded a little strange to me. It surely is a complicated situation and I do not like it. That is all I want to say about it.”

Hummels was the subject of critical banners and heavily booed by the home fans during Dortmund’s Bundesliga victory over Wolfsburg on Saturday.