Hans-Joachim Watzke confident Borussia Dortmund will be able to replace Erling Haaland
By Tushar Bahl
Hans-Joachim Watzke is confident that Borussia Dortmund will be able to find a replacement for Erling Haaland, with the striker closing in on a move to Manchester City.
Erling Haaland is set to join Manchester City in the summer and the transfer has now been made official. The Norwegian international has been scoring goals for fun for Borussia Dortmund over the past two and a half years. But his time at the club is now about to come to an end.
Despite Haaland’s impending departure, Watzke has no doubt that Borussia Dortmund will be able to find a replacement. In an interview with CNN, which took place in late April, the BVB CEO said:
"“We have played football for 113 years, and for 111 years, we played without Erling Haaland. We had Robert Lewandowski and then he left us in 2014, but we played football in ’15, ’16, ’17 until now.”“Then next came Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and then Erling Haaland and you can be sure if Erling decides to leave us, we will find the next [player] 100% percent.”"
Manchester City are set to pay the release clause of €75 million in Haaland’s contract for his signature. Some of Europe’s biggest clubs were in the race to sign the 21 year old. But the English Premier League giants are about to secure his signing.
Hans-Joachim Watzke knows that Borussia Dortmund cannot financially compete with the biggest clubs in Europe, who are backed by rich owners. But the Black and Yellows have a strong scouting system in place to ensure that they are able to sign some of the best young players in the world.
"“When a player performs really well, we have to fight against the big, big clubs with the oligarchs and the Arab states at their back.”“And this fight we cannot win, but we can win a fight over an 18-year-old player, like Jude Bellingham, because this player loves to play at Borussia Dortmund because we have always 80,000 spectators, it’s a very good atmosphere and the club knows how to manage young players.”"
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Borussia Dortmund has become one of the top destinations in Europe for young players to come in and get a real opportunity in the first-team. Jadon Sancho, Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham have all enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent years. And while Haaland is now set to follow Sancho to the English Premier League, Dortmund are well placed to stay competitive for years to come.