Borussia Dortmund is forcing a radical restructuring of its team. Belgian national player Witsel is in the spotlight. However, until the new BVB is created, two transfer periods, are likely to be needed.

If there was a concrete idea of what Borussia Dortmund had lacked last season, a short description of Axel Witsel would be enough. The Belgian national player was able to convince millions of TV-viewers during the World Cup that he is a good assistance to defense who also proves himself to be really good at tackling. In general, players like 29-year-old Witsel, who is currently under contract with Tianjin Quanjian of the Chinese top division, are considered players with a distinct way of thinking.

Witsel meets the professional requirements. Accordingly, at least the interest of the Dortmund club seems to be realistic. Because the aim, which has been pursued at the 4th-placed club of the last Bundesliga season since the beginning of the transfer period, is clear: the aggressive image of the team should become tangible.

Managing Director Hans-Joachim Watzke and sports director Michael Zorc have already invested 53 million euros in transfers. Abdou Diallo, who came from FSV Mainz 05 for 28 million, Thomas Delaney (20 million / Werder Bremen) and Marius Wolf (five million / Eintracht Frankfurt) have already been regarded as three professionals who, first of all, stand out as good duel fighters and dynamic players.

Right forward Achraf Hakimi, who was loaned by Real Madrid, is firstly notable for his dynamism. He was one of the most effective players in three Group Stage matches of the Moroccans at the World Cup.

The transfer carousel in BVB runs lively

Constant efforts to change the team were there during the BVB's friendly match tour of the USA. André Schürrle, who has never really settled down in Dortmund, was released to negotiate with a potential new employer. The track seems to lead to England: Crystal Palace is said to be interested in the 2014 World Champion.

BVB in turn is said to have shown interest in Wilfried Zaha from Crystal Palace for several weeks. The Ivorian is considered a candidate to fill the vacant center forward position in Dortmund.

It is still not clear when the overall rearrangement of the squad by new coach Lucien Favre will be completed. "There are also a few things which take a bit more time," said Watzke trying to counter the pressure of expectation.

Busy weeks for Zorc

Already during the last weeks of the past season, it would have become clear that the restructuring complexity could lead to the fact that the build-up of the new BVB would take a longer time. "It was clear to us during the whole season that we probably needed two transfer periods to be able to model the team's framework as we would expect." A restart requires "a realistic expectation and a bit of patience".

Especially because there are still too many players in the squad. Despite the transfers of Sokratis (Arsenal), Andrey Yarmolenko (West Ham United), Gonzalo Castro (VfB Stuttgart), Erik Durm (FC Huddersfield) and Roman Weidenfeller (career end) as well as recently loaned out players (Felix Passlack, Mikel Merino), there is still a need to reduce the squad. If nothing happens for the time being, Favre would have to coach 29 professionals. Therefore, the coming weeks should be labour-intensive particularly for Zorc.

Source: welt