The future of Borussia Dortmund's Donyell Malen is once again a focus of speculation for the club amidst a tumultuous string of results. Losses to Real Madrid in the Champions League, Augsburg in the Bundesliga, and now Wolfsburg in the DFB Pokal have seemingly left the club adrift and rudder-less as they look to navigate this difficult time.
Speculation surrounding Malen will not help in this vein, particularly due to the extensive injury list Dortmund has amassed, with players missing from almost every position on the pitch. According to Ruhr Nachrichten, the Dutch international will look to leave at the latest next summer, but if there is an attractive offer he would be willing to jump ship in January.
Malen leaving in January would be both a hit financially as well as in terms of personnel. Injuries to Karim Adeyemi and Julien Duranville have necessitated that Malen be available to play on the wing. A departure for Malen would further weaken Dortmund in terms of available personnel going into the second half of the season.
Financially, Dortmund is unlikely to be able to make a profit on the 30 million euros spent on Malen. In many ways, Malen's continued inconsistent performances this season do not really warrant a fee upwards of this sum. Three goals and one assist across all competitions, coupled with a contract set to expire in 2026 will not give Dortmund much wiggle room in terms of negotiations. With this in mind, the time for the club to sell at a profit was this past summer.
A potential Malen departure opens up yet another hole for Dortmund to fill in at a time when quite a bit of the squad is new and is and still bedding into the team and head coach Nuri Sahin's plans. There is even talk of additional upheaval in the coaching position, which would leave Dortmund in a complete state of transition.
For the potential departure of Malen to be somewhat of a success, it is really going to depend on the financial parameters surrounding it and who the club can bring in to replace him. The hope would be that interest from the Premier League may resurface again and push potential profits slightly higher for Dortmund to benefit from.