Dortmund fans have grown accustomed to seeing their best players walk out the door each summer. In the summer of 2021, it was Jadon Sancho who left the Signal Iduna Park for Manchester United -- one year later, Manuel Akanji and Erling Haaland left BVB for United's crosstown rivals Manchester City. In 2023, they sold Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid for a whopping €113 million, and over the past nine months, they've sold Niclas Fulkrug and Donyell Malen to West Ham and Aston Villa, respectively.
Surely as the sun will rise tomorrow, Dortmund will be forced into selling at least one key player this summer in order to give themselves the necessary funds to engender a squad makeover and allow new manager Niko Kovac the firepower needed to close the distance on Bayern Munich. The only question is: who?
Starting off in goal, Gregor Kobel is just one year removed from a season that saw him emerge as one of Europe's most decisive shot-stoppers and lead BVB to the Champions League Final. He has drawn interest from the likes of Newcastle and Chelsea, and at 27, he isn't getting any younger. As such, Dortmund could be inclined to cash in on him this summer.
The fullback positions are fairly well covered with Daniel Svensson, Julian Ryerson, Yan Couto and Ramy Bensebaini, although BVB could be tempted to invest in central defense due to Nico Schlotterbeck's long-term injury. Over in midfield, meanwhile, all signs point to a massive overhaul taking place.
Carney Chukwuemeka will return to parent club Chelsea after his loan spell expires, whilst Salih Ozcan and Emre Can could also find themselves on the chopping block. Both players are entering the final years of their contracts, in addition to other players like Niklas Sule, Julian Brandt and Pascal Groß.
Another player who is entering the final 12 months of his contract is Giovanni Reyna. Once regarded as one of the brightest young talents in world football, Reyna has struggled to convince in recent years under various coaches from Edin Terzic to Nuno Espirito Santo to Anthony Hudson. He has fallen by the wayside due in large part to injuries, and it's clear that a change of scenery would do both parties a world of good.
Moving onto the attack, Jamie Gittens and Karim Adeyemi are both prime candidates for a big-money transfer, whilst Julien Duranville also looks set to depart after struggling to make his mark in Dortmund. There's more than one way to shake a carbuncle, and there's more than one way to get Dortmund the funds that they desperately need in order to get their summer transfer business up and running.
However, if there's one player who must be declared non-transferrable, it's Serhou Guirassy.
The Guinean enjoyed a phenomenal 2023/24 season for Stuttgart, finishing second behind Bayern Munich's Harry Kane in the Bundesliga scoring charts with 28 goals to lead Stuttgart to a second-placed finish. Whilst other teams hesitated to make a move, fearing that Guirassy would turn out to be a one-season wonder, Dortmund decided to pull the trigger and activate his €18 million release clause.
It hasn't taken long for Guirassy to justify BVB's investment, racking up an astonishing 34 goals and 9 assists in 45 appearances for Dortmund. And unless Lautaro Martinez bags five goals in the UEFA Champions League Final for Inter (or Ousmane Dembele scores six for PSG in Munich), then Guirassy will end the season as the joint-top Champions League scorer alongside Raphinha.
Bundesliga announcer Derek Rae has recently weighed in on Guirassy's situation:
""I remember watching Guirassy at Cologne, and you would have never in those days predicted that he would be where he is now. He's an example of somebody who grows in confidence when he's in the right environment. It's late in his career for him to be doing what he does, but I love that. There are bumps in the road, and he's had them. He was beginning to look like a little bit of a striking journeyman, and now, he's at one of the most high-profile clubs in the world. He knows how to lead a line, he can score goals in a number of different ways, he's good in the air and with his back to goal.""Derek Rae
At 29 years old, it's fair to say that Guirassy is aging like fine wine. He has gone from a middle-of-the-road striker to one of the deadliest goal-scoring phenoms on the planet for Stuttgart and Dortmund, and he looks set to play a pivotal role for Dortmund as they compete for the FIFA Club World Cup this summer in the United States.
After Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland, Serhou Guirassy is the latest world-class center forward to make his mark at Dortmund, and he has proven that he is not merely a flavor of the month, but the real deal. No matter what Dortmund do this summer, they simply cannot afford to let him go.