Michael Zorc hits back at “arrogant” Uli Hoeness over transfers criticism

Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc has responded to Uli Hoeness’ criticism of the club’s transfer strategy.

Former Bayern Munich president and convicted tax fraud Uli Hoeness hit the headlines earlier today by criticising Borussia Dortmund’s transfer policy and describing it as “unwise”. Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc has now hit back at Hoeness, calling his statements arrogant and factually incorrect.

Speaking to Ruhr Nachrichten, Zorc gave a blunt response to the former Bayern boss’ criticism:

"“I find the statements pretty arrogant, but some of them are also de facto wrong. Basically: If you have 250 million euros more in your pocket every year, you can stink with your pants full”, Zorc said."

Hoeness had earlier claimed in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that Borussia Dortmund sign talented players just to sell them for a profit a few years later, in effect encouraging a rapid turnover of players in order to make money.

"“When Dortmund buys a highly talented player and he plays well, a few months later you hear either from the club itself or from the outside, that he will be presented as put up for sale at some point. How is a player supposed to absorb the DNA of a club one hundred percent, when he has the feeling that he’s up for sale?”"

In his interview, Hoeness also contradicted his own club as he spoke about about Bayern Munich’s interest in signing Jadon Sancho when he was about to leave Manchester City in 2017.

"“With Sancho, we had settled everything, but at the last moment he decided in favor of Dortmund,” Hoeness said."

A few months after Sancho joined Borussia Dortmund, the Bayern bosses launched a scathing attack on the media at a press conference for reporting that the Bavarians had the chance to sign the Englishman but decided to pass up the opportunity.

When in reality, Bayern only became interested in signing Sancho at the last minute. They even offered him more money, but Sancho had already made the decision to join Borussia Dortmund because of the prospect of more playing time in the first team. Internally, Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić was criticised for overlooking the opportunity to sign the highly rated winger.