Watzke criticizes Ricken, Kehl and Mislintat: "Strong egos" | OneFootball

Hans-Joachim Watzke believes there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to the way Borussia Dortmund managing director for sport Lars Ricken, sporting director Sebastian Kehl and squad planner Sven Mislintat work together.

Speaking at the SPOBIS conference in Hamburg, Watzke, who will step down as the club's chief executive at the end of the year, took a critical look at their working relationship.

"It's all about the question: Do the three of them work in harmony? That still needs to be optimized," said Watzke, who is hoping to see improvement soon.

"They have only been working together for six months," he said, pointing out that there are "always strong egos" in football and that everyone tries to "test their limits".

Ricken's job now is to make sure "everyone is marching in the same direction and if in the medium term you feel that's not the case, then you have to change the concept. But that is no longer my problem," said Watzke.

The 65-year-old insisted that he "no longer has a say in sporting matters".

He therefore had no part in the sacking of Nuri Sahin or the appointment of Niko Kovac as his successor.

"I told him (Lars Ricken): 'You make the decision. You decide what happens the sporting area," Watzke said.

“I'm still responsible for the rest, but you're in charge of the sporting side of things now and I'll stick to that.”