After Couto flop: BVB change their transfer strategy | OneFootball

After the costly misunderstanding involving Yan Couto, Borussia Dortmund is drawing consequences. BVB has changed its transfer strategy.

Borussia Dortmund is apparently drawing consequences from the costly misunderstanding involving Yan Couto. BVB has adjusted its squad-planning processes and will rely more heavily on joint decision-making for future transfers. The aim is to prevent expensive mistakes as much as possible.

As WAZ reports, responsibility for new signings will in future lie primarily with a trio: sporting director Ole Book, managing director for sport Lars Ricken, and head coach Niko Kovac. The three are expected to coordinate closely on potential transfers and make decisions as equals. In practical terms, that means a move will only be pursued if everyone involved is convinced by the player. According to the report, each of the three decision-makers has a kind of veto right.

This is meant to make solo moves by individual decision-makers a thing of the past. Managing director Carsten Cramer is also more closely involved in the relevant processes, although sporting transfer planning is focused primarily on Book, Ricken, and Kovac. One apparent model is Kovac’s successful spell at Eintracht Frankfurt. There, the current BVB coach worked closely with Fredi Bobic and Bruno Hübner on squad planning.

BVB draws lessons from the Couto transfer

Dortmund also had a comparable model during the Jürgen Klopp era: Klopp, Michael Zorc, and Hans-Joachim Watzke coordinated transfer decisions together. Why Dortmund now wants to rely more consistently on shared responsibility again is illustrated by the Couto case.

Photo: IMAGO

The right-back initially joined in 2024 on loan from Manchester City and was considered an explicit target of then-head coach Nuri Sahin. Because of an agreed obligation to buy, BVB later had to pay around €25 million for the Brazilian — at a time when Sahin was no longer the coach.

Under Kovac, Couto then no longer played a key role. He has since been loaned to Como 1907. The Serie A club is expected to pay a €2 million loan fee and has a purchase option worth €20 million. Dortmund wants to avoid a similar scenario in the future. The new structure is intended to ensure that a transfer no longer depends too heavily on the preferences of a single person — and can therefore better withstand a possible change of coach.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.