Borussia Dortmund considering Sven Mislintat as a possible successor to Michael Zorc

Borussia Dortmund are considering Sven Mislintat as one of the candidates to succeed Michael Zorc as sporting director when the latter retires at the end of the 2021/22 season. According to Ruhr Nachrichten (subscription required), Hans-Joachim Watzke is due to meet with the 48 year old next month.

Mislintat, who is currently the sporting director at VfB Stuttgart, previously worked as a scout and chief scout at Borussia Dortmund before leaving in 2017. He then joined Arsenal before moving to Stuttgart, where he recently signed a contract extension until 2023. Ruhr Nachrichten claim that Mislintat has a release clause in his contract which would allow him to join Borussia Dortmund in 2022.

Mislintat is considered to be one of the best talent spotters in Germany, and played a role in signing Shinji Kagawa, Robert Lewandowski, Raphael Guerreiro, Ousmane Dembele and many other talented players during his first stint with Borussia Dortmund.

Hans-Joachim Watzke said last month Borussia Dortmund want to make a decision on Michael Zorc’s successor in the first half of 2021. Zorc is set to step down when his contract expires at the end of next season. Head of players’ department Sebastian Kehl has long been thought of as the favourite to replace Zorc. The 41 year old has been working closely with Zorc for the last two and a half years, and extended his contract until 2022 last year.

The newspaper also adds that the BVB bosses would be confident of being able to attract other successful Bundesliga managers like Eintracht Frankfurt sporting director Fredi Bobic.

Those in charge at Borussia Dortmund also reportedly consider the idea of Sebastian Kehl and Sven Mislintat working together as an appealing option. They feel that the duo would compliment each other very well.