Report: Borussia Dortmund’s transfer plans post the Jude Bellingham era

Borussia Dortmund will seek to re-invest 60-65% of the funds they receive via transfers to bring in new faces for the 2023/24 Bundesliga season.

With the announcement of Jude Bellingham’s departure to Real Madrid all but confirmed, Borussia Dortmund are planning for life without their star midfield man. The money that Bellingham’s move  will bring in for the club will be invaluable to it’s restructuring at numerous positions. According to Bild, Die Schwarzgelben have a few concrete targets in mind for this restructuring.

Of course, of those targets listed, many of them are familiar faces and deals that we know the club are already working on in earnest. Both the signings of Edson Álvarez and Iván Fresneda look to be moving closer and to completion.

İlkay Gündoğan has also been mentioned as being on Dortmund’s list, but it seems like the player will likely decide between a move to Arsenal or Barcelona should he not extend with Manchester City. Should Dortmund be able to convince their former player to make a return to the Westfalenstadion however, it would prove to be a real coup for the club. Gündoğan has seen it all throughout his career, developing leadership mentality in the process that could prove invaluable to a team like Dortmund.

Dortmund are apparently also looking to America and and Serbia for their next young talents. Brian Gutiérrez ( central midfielder, Chicago Fire) and Matija Popović (attacking midfielder, Partizan Belgrade) seem to the on the German club’s radar, and would likely be brought in as long term options that would be slowly developed and brought into the first team. Both are considered top talents for their respective countries, and with Dortmund’s track record of identifying and developing youngsters, one can assume that there’s concrete reasoning behind Dortmund’s interest.

Crysencio Summerville of recently-relegated English side Leeds United also seems to be on this list that Dortmund have drawn up. A versatile winger that’s able to play on both sides of the pitch, Summerville has also been tracked by Dortmund for some time. One wonders however whether the club will actually make a move for yet another winger considering Donyell Malen and Karmi Adeyemi’s resurgence in the second half of last season. In addition to this, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and more recently Julien Duranville have proven that they can deputize in these positions quite well despite their age. Duranville in particular came on in the latter stages of Dortmund’s final game home to Mainz and lit up the Westfalenstadion with the overall electric nature of his play. This transfer in particular will have to take some thought on Dortmund’s part as they will have to decide whether they trust the current crop enough to not have to add an additional winger into the mix.

The amount that Dortmund plan to reinvest from transfers out of the club will be closer to 60-65% according to a recent interview with CEO Hans Joachim-Watzke, but this will likely be bolstered by some of the funds the club already had set aside for said transfer period, as the club would have pursued some additional faces even if players hadn’t departed in such numbers. In addition to this, the possible sales of further players like Thorgan Hazard and Thomas Meunier may give the club some more room to maneuver on the market.

What we do know for sure is that this will be a pivotal transfer window for Borussia Dortmund. Having come so close to lifting the Meisterschale, Dortmund will have to work on improving the squad so that they can challenge again next season, even despite the fact that they are losing one of the main catalysts behind the club’s title charge: Jude Bellingham. It will take a diverse cast of new additions, both established, experienced players and youthful, brave talents to make this a real possibility.