FEATURE | Analysing Borussia Dortmund’s transfer window | OneFootball

After securing Champions League football by the skin of their teeth last season, Borussia Dortmund went into the summer transfer window needing to strengthen while maintaining the core of their squad.

It would be Niko Kovac’s first transfer window as Dortmund head coach and despite fans perhaps being a little underwhelmed throughout the summer, BVB’s business hasn’t actually been too bad.

Borussia Dortmund Departures

Youssoufa Moukoko spent the 2024/25 season on loan at OGC Nice and was uninspiring. Once heralded as Germany’s best young talent, the now 20-year-old has been shipped off permanently, joining Copenhagen for €5m. Defensively, Soumaïla Coulibaly returned from a loan spell in France and was subsequently sold to Strasbourg on a permanent basis for €7.5m, while American playmaker Gio Reyna was deemed surplus to requirements and joined Borussia Monchengladbach for €4m.

The big one here is Jamie Gittens. Borussia Dortmund went into summer with the intention of keeping the English winger at the club. The 20-year-old impressed in spells but following the appointment of Kovac, found it difficult to break into the Croat’s squad – with a preference to play 3-4-1-2/5-3-2 – and thus joined Chelsea for an initial €56m. Considering it would have been difficult for Kovac to find a place for Gittens in his current system, the transfer fee received was reinvested back into the squad.

Borussia Dortmund Arrivals

After successful loan spells, Borussia Dortmund signed Daniel Svensson and Yan Couto on a permanent basis for a combined €26.5m. Given Kovac’s system, the wing-backs are the perfect duo to operate the wide areas and is money well spent. Aarón Anselmino also joined on loan from Chelsea on deadline to add depth to their defence. Carney Chukwuemeka also spent the second half of last season on loan at Dortmund and after originally being priced out a move by Chelsea to sign the Englishman on a permanent basis, eventually reached an agreement over a €20m fee. Jobe Bellingham was BVB’s marquee signing at €30.5m while Fabio Silva makes for an interesting attacking addition.

Borussia Dortmund’s Transfer Window Summary

Borussia Dortmund brought in €72.75m and spent €99.7m. They’ve managed to keep the core of their squad intact with Jamie Gittens the only noticeable departure that could still contribute. But with the permanent signing of Chukwuemeka and arrivals of Silva and Bellingham, Dortmund now have plenty of options to keep things interesting in both midfield and attack.

Club bosses have certainly improved the club’s personnel and Dortmund will be expected to challenge Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title. But an area of concern for BVB is certainly their defence with injuries to Niklas Süle, Nico Schlotterbeck and Emre Can, while Filippo Mane is untested at professional level, only making his debut on the opening matchday against St. Pauli. The arrival of Anselmino from Chelsea on loan seems a little rushed, but his performance against Union Berlin did yield some positives.

Had Dortmund also signed a No. 6 as Kovac prefers to play Can in central-defence, then die Schwarzgelben wouldn’t have been far off having a near perfect transfer window.

GGFN | Daniel Pinder