Dortmund have chased a right-back all summer and been knocked back twice.
Sky Germany named three candidates this week. Héctor Fort at Barcelona was one. The others were Josh Acheampong of Chelsea and Marcus Pedersen of Torino.
Acheampong looked a tidy fit on paper. Chelsea would only do a permanent sale while BVB wanted a straight loan, so the two clubs never got near each other.
Pedersen failed a different test entirely. He already sits behind Julian Ryerson for Norway. Nobody at Brackel fancied recreating that same queue at club level as well.
Funny how that works. Ryerson himself is half the reason both moves fell apart.
What Dortmund would actually be getting
Héctor Fort turned 20 this month. Transfermarkt values him at €10m and logs 14 La Liga appearances from last season's loan at Elche.
Hardly a mountain of senior football. It is, mind you, roughly what BVB have bought all summer, so nobody can accuse Lars Ricken of losing the thread.
His Barcelona contract runs to 2029. With no route into that first team, the lad has been pushing hard for a move. Offers from Spain and Italy have already been turned down to keep this one alive.
Price is where things get messy. Barcelona want a package worth up to €20m. A figure nearer €10m is thought possible if the sell-on clause is generous enough, which is the sort of deal Dortmund used to laugh at and now sign twice a window.
Talks with the Catalans have turned towards a loan instead. After Friday's annual loss of €21.7m, nobody should find that remotely surprising.
Why Ryerson should be uneasy anyway
BVB Buzz flagged the search on Wednesday while noting BVB were hunting a right-back. Nothing has been settled since.
Ryerson is reliable and durable. The Norwegian is also 28, with essentially nobody behind him in the squad.
Pre-season didn't soothe the nerves either. BVB Buzz picked over the defensive wobbles after Roma came to the Westfalenstadion and led 2-0 within ten minutes.
The window shuts on the 1st September. Kovac doesn't want to reach the Revierderby in December with one senior right-back, a converted centre-back and a prayer.
Fort isn't the finished article. There's a decent argument that he wasn't even the pick of Sky's list.
He is, though, the only one of those three who actually wants to come. That fact counts for plenty in the closing fortnight of a window.
Verdict: Fort is a gamble on potential rather than a fix, though BVB have run out of alternatives willing to say yes.
Likelihood: A loan looks likeliest. Barcelona hold the cards on any permanent fee. Dortmund have just told the market they're short of cash.
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