Jürgen Kohler believes Borussia Dortmund can finally overturn Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga dominance

Borussia Dortmund legend and former Germany international Jürgen Kohler believes that Borussia Dortmund can finally beat Bayern to the Bundesliga title next season, per Kicker.

In what is a very similar conversation every summer, Borussia Dortmund’s title prospects are often measured against that of record German champions Bayern Munich, in the hopes that the Ruhr club have finally turned the corner and are ready to mount a proper challenge; a hurdle they haven’t been able to surmount for a decade now.

While there have been a few seasons since Borussia Dortmund’s last German title success in 2012 that have seen the Black and Yellows push Bayern, these performances have not been common occurrences.

According to Borussia Dortmund legend and former Germany international Jürgen Kohler, however, this may be about to change. The World Cup winning defender believes that Borussia Dortmund are the favorites to win the Bundesliga in this upcoming season.

Kohler’s basis for this assessment is Borussia Dortmund’s transfer window. The players Dortmund haver brought in, according to Kohler, significantly strengthen the team:

"“In Niklas Süle, Nico Schlotterbeck and Karim Adeyemi, BVB has signed three internationals. David Raum would be the fourth. And Sebastien Haller knows the Bundesliga”  – Jürgen Kohler, Kicker"

Kohler’s mention of Raum is rather speculative of course, but it’s hard to deny that Borussia Dortmund have brought in a significant amount of quality, particularly in the face of the loss of Erling Haaland. The transfers do a good job in terms of bringing balance to a squad that showed it was able to score goals (85 total in the league), but showed a sincere and worrying weakness in defense, having allowed a shocking 52 goals.

It is performances like last season’s that will leave most spectators skeptical until they start to see results on the pitch. Kohler’s assessment is not solely based on Dortmund’s transfers, however. Kohler believes that the current Bayern Munich team will have problems in central defense. This, coupled with the unrest surrounding players like Robert Lewandowski will also create a less than ideal situation for the club:

"“Bayern Munich still has a difficult issue with Robert Lewandowski. This problem is causing unrest. In Sadio Mané, a superb striker with exceptional skills has arrived, but he will not be a classic replacement for the Pole should the FIFA World Player of the Year leave Bayern this summer. “"

There is no doubt that the addition of Sadio Mané is a sensational one for the Rekordmeister, but Kohler correctly alludes that Mané is not the same type of player. It remains very unlikely that Mané will be able to produce the same sort of numbers as Lewandowski has over the course of his time at Bayern, and should the Polish international leave, Bayern will have to compensate for his goals from all positions on the field, even if they do manage to find a striker in an attempt to fill the void left by the Pole.

Whether Borussia Dortmund will have what it takes to lift the league title come May 2023 remains to be seen, and perhaps it is too early to call Die Schwarzgelben favorites. Under some of the suggested circumstances that Kohler points to however, there may be far more of a chance than in preceding years. One simply has to hope that Dortmund will be well and truly equipped to capitalize on said chance should it present itself.