In today’s football, achieving green numbers at the end of a season is almost more complicated than qualifying for the Champions League. The very leaders of European football prefer to pull in external investment to create a champion team from nothing to form an economically stable project that can give results in the medium or long term. The rules of sport favor obtaining financing from outside funds and cause clubs to neglect what was once their main source of nutrition: the youth academy and the development of their own talent. Borussia Dortmund is one of the banners of the old model of sustainable growth in football.
Among the major leagues on the continent, the German league has always been the one that has most protected the sustainability of sport, promoting, with the 50/1 rule (50% plus one vote must be in the hands of the members), organic development of talent, the care of the people of the house and the concern for the opinion of the fans.
The directives are formed, in many cases, by former players or even lifelong fans of the club. Without going any further, the new president of Hertha Berlin, Kay Bernstein, was the leader of an ultra group of fans of the Olympiastadion team. At Bayern Munich, great legends such as Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeneß, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge or Matthias Sammer (winner of the Ballon d’Or in 1996 with Dortmund) are or were part of the Bavarian club’s management team.
One of the clearest examples of sustainability and development of young talent in football today is that of Borussia Dortmund. On the one hand, they have eight homegrown players in the ranks of their first team. Only Mainz 05, Cologne and Freiburg have more in the entire Bundesliga (nine each). However, their capacity for organic growth is not based solely on a quality and efficient training system, but on the ability to detect players with potential, hire them at an early age for ridiculous amounts, develop them and get a great economic return that allows them to sustain your project only with the results derived from the sports activity.
Robert Lewandowski, Mats Hummels, Mario Götze, Ilkay Gündogan, Ousmane Dembélé, Erling Braut Haaland… The list of world-class talents who came to Borussia Dortmund at a very low price and left for much larger amounts (except Lewandowski, who was free, but the 4.75 million it cost was amortized with its performance) is inexhaustible.
This past season, new youngsters have begun to stand out with the team from the Ruhr area. Gregor Kobel, Jude Bellingham, Giovanni Reyna (academy player) and Donyell Malen have been essential in Dortmund’s 2021-22 campaign, in which they finished second in the Bundesliga. Youssoufa Moukoko, although he has had less prominence, is already rearing his head as one of the most promising star projects in Europe. After racking up crushing numbers in the club’s youth ranks, in 2020 he became the youngest scorer in Bundesliga history, aged 16 years and 28 days. Last year he scored two goals and dished out two assists in 207 league minutes.
If they hoard so many quality young players season after season, why can’t they compete to dethrone Bayern Munich in Germany or confirm themselves as real contenders for the European crown? In the current football system, the powerful are increasingly powerful and the differences between them and other clubs that, although historical, are committed to sustainability and not to the investment of huge amounts of money affect the competitiveness of the latter, since they end up looting them. The most recent example is that of Haaland. For Dortmund it was unthinkable to be able to retain a striker destined to mark an era in the face of the interest of a transatlantic such as Manchester City.
Maintaining balance on the fine rope that unites sustainability and competitiveness is an arduous task. Borussia Dortmund, despite having great promises in their squad, has certain football problems that explain why, year after year, they are unable to fight for the Bundesliga and go far in the Champions League. The main one is defence: this season they conceded 52 league goals, more than any team in the top eight, despite finishing second. Manuel Akanji, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Thomas Meunier or Hummels himself have shown a very poor level.
However, the outlook for the next campaign could improve. Edin Terzic’s team (Marco Rose failed to have regularity and was dismissed on May 20) has been reinforced by Niklas Süle (26 years old, arrives on a free transfer from Bayern), Nico Schlotterbeck (22, arrives from Freiburg for 20 million), Salih Özcan (24, comes from Cologne for around 10 million), Karim Adeyemi (20, comes from Salzburg for 30 million) and the most recent, Sébastien Haller (28, comes from Ajax for 35 million).
Süle and Schlotterbeck will be, a priori, the starting central pair. The first is a physical marvel and the second is safe on the court with a great ball output. Özcan will be able to form a good pairing with Bellingham in midfield. The two have a great deal of ball and daring to ask for it and handle it in high traffic areas. For his part, Adeyemi has made himself known this season with his 19 goals and five assists in 29 games in the Austrian league and his impressive performances in the Champions League. Precisely in the continental competition is where Haller shook off the doubts that plagued him after his time at West Ham, scoring 11 goals in eight games with Ajax and earning himself a new opportunity in an important project in a major league.
Borussia Dortmund have shored up their defence, strengthened their midfield and covered the hole they had left in attack after Haaland’s departure. He has done it, as always, without undertaking any astronomical operation, the maximum amount invested in a player being 35 million. In addition, he has struck a blow on the table, taking Süle from Bayern (despite arriving on a free transfer, he was an important piece in the Bavarian defense) and snatching Schlotterbeck, one of the most promising German players today. The question now is whether the club from the Ruhr area will be able to pose a real threat to the throne that the Munich people have occupied since 2013.
