It’s not easy to make a profit in football, but these guys are built different.
In the wake of Erling Haaland’s move to Manchester City, we thought we’d look at some other Dortmund transfers which showcase their nous in the market.
Most clubs seem to fall into the trap of short-term solutions to long term problems.
Whereby they often assess their squad, see what their immediate needs are, and go out into the transfer market to fill them. Manchester United are an (unfortunately) good example of this.
Naturally, players suitable for this type of criteria are nearer their prime than not, and would usually command a fee in line with their ability and current evaluation. But from a business point of view, their value’s probably only going to take a nosedive.
But then you have Dortmund transfers – an archetype for any successful club.
And to kick off their most profitable transactions to date, we have:
Christian Pulisic to Chelsea (June, 2019) – £45 Million
Haaland only just misses out in the top 3 Dortmund transfers, as he comes second to the flying American’s move to Chelsea a few years back.
Especially as a number of his performance-related clauses have had to be paid.
Pulisic is a unique transfer scenario, as he’s a non-homegrown youth product.
A man who joins a fairly small list of young players who choose to emigrate from the safety of their American upbringing to see if they’re capable of making it in Europe, Pulisic can be pretty darn proud of himself for making the jump. As can Alphonso Davies, for example.
In recent times, Major League Soccer in the US has undergone a bit of a revolution when it comes to producing players. Thus, narrowing a generally wide gap between the quality of the older players they’d bring in (to generally improve the brand of the sport on the global front), to the calibre of younger players they were tasked to play with.
Christian Pulisic was a cut above the rest at Dortmund, and cost a nominal fee to be brought to the club as a development graduate in 2015 from PA Classics.
His £45 million sale to Chelsea represents one of the most noteworthy Dortmund transfers of all time in terms of gross profit. And it only took 4 years for him to get there.
That’s about £10-12 million p/season – and only two years as a regular.
A wonderful piece of business from BVB.
Jadon Sancho to Manchester United (June, 2021) – £75 Million
Of all the Dortmund transfers, there may be a tinge of ‘ah, we could’ve gotten a little bit more’ out of this one. Again – not too dissimilar to the Haaland deal.
Jadon Sancho to United was a transfer rumour that got old pretty quickly.
Then-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was a long-term, vocal admirer of the Englishman, while the lineup were struggling to nail down a natural taker of that right-wing berth.
United were supposedly interested in the Dortmund man around the same time the year prior, when the Germans practically rebuffed their interest by claiming a £150 million valuation of a player they paid only £4 million for in 2017.
Ironically, from another Manchester club.
However, almost unbecoming of the shambles the Red Devils had become as a business outlet in recent years, Sancho’s well into an unordinary category of Dortmund transfers to actually go down in value as the years wore on.
Plainly because he had a contract which was drawing to a close (within three years of his eventual move), with little sign of a renewal taking place thereafter.
The result? United got their mine for half the price – £75 million.
But Dortmund still pocketed a tidy profit of just over 70.
All’s well, which ends well, I suppose!
Ousmane Dembele to Barcelona (August, 2017) – £126 Million
Topping this Dortmund transfers list, is the sale of Ousmane Dembele in 2017.
Which is extraordinary for two reasons:
1) It’s one of few world deals to amount to over £100 million. Joining an enviable list alongside the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar in the process.
2) it was concluded after only one great season as a Dortmund player.
As you’ve seen from the other Dortmund transfers on this list, there’s a trend that the Dembele affair doesn’t follow.
He didn’t play at the club for very long, he seldom proved himself at the highest level in the bigger European competitions (because he wasn’t there long enough), and he arrived for a relatively princely sum of £30 million (ish) from Rennes the year earlier, so I doubt Dortmund would have been planning to reap a long-term business return from him.
If anything, I suspect they might have earmarked him as their next great player.
But alas, we know that Barcelona don’t have the best track record when it comes to valuing players or staying resolute on a price tag.
Though this is outrageous even by their standards.
Easily the most outlandish of Dortmund transfers of all time.
Did you enjoy this article? Well, be sure to follow our page for more updates on the Twelfth Media blog. Equally, you might like this piece here – slightly different tone, but still!