How Borussia Dortmund’s mangement conflicts have affected their squad planning

Bild has revealed how the ongoing issues in the Borussia Dortmund hierarchy have affected the club’s squad building in the past year.

Sporting director Sebastian Kehl and squad planner Sven Mislintat are involved in a power struggle. The latter is set to be fired due to his issues with Kehl but it has still affected Dortmund. When Mislintat was brought back to the club in May, he was set to help Edin Terzic with the squad planning as the head coach’s relationship with Kehl was not the best, however, Terzic left his role as Dortmund coach not soon after.

This has made the situation surrounding Kehl and Mislintat worse and has impacted Dortmund’s transfer strategy. Lars Ricken has made it clear that both should stick to their tasks and not intervene with the others.

In the summer, Kehl favoured a move for on-loan Chelsea midfielder Andrey Santos who is currently at Strasbourg, while Mislintat favoured the signing of Pascal Groß. Dortmund signed Groß.

Elsewhere, previous head coach Nuri Şahin recognised that Dortmund needed a left-sided defender who could play as a centre-back and left-back. After the failed pursuit of Renato Veiga, nothing has been done to rectify this position despite the injury issues and clear need for additional players.

The same can be said for the wing as despite Donyell Malen’s desire to leave going back into the summer, no one has yet been brought in to replace the Dutchman despite his departure earlier this month. Dortmund did try to sign Kevin Schade but a transfer is unlikely as the winger was surprised by how uncoordinated Dortmund were in their pursuit of him and the fact he was contacted by several different agents.

Finally, this has also impacted their search for a replacement for Şahin. Roger Schmidt is said to have been contacted by Mislintat, despite this not being his job, and was very surprised with this way of working and declined the current job offer, while a job in the summer is also unlikely.

GGFN | Jack Meenan