The shock diagnosis at Star-Einkauf Sébastien Haller is a serious turning point for BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke in the Borussia Dortmund training camp in Bad Ragaz. The players were "not able to shake off the shock at all".
As boss of the Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, Hans-Joachim Watzke has experienced a lot in almost two decades - including the drama surrounding the 2017 bomb attack on the BVB team bus. But the testicular tumor diagnosis at Star-Einkauf Sébastien Haller was also a "tragedy" according to Watzke.
"That was a cut. We don't have to fool ourselves, you can't shake that off, I couldn't shake it off," said the 63-year-old in the Sky interview. And the players "couldn't have shaken off at all": "That was a turning point in the training camp. But that's normal, these are people and not machines." The first impression of the training camp in Bad Ragaz was "very good". Until Haller's diagnosis was announced, the mood was "very performance-oriented" and the team "very focused in training".
The loss of ex-Frankfurter Haller, who was committed by Ajax Amsterdam for 31 million euros, must first be coped with, says Watzke: "So blatant that a player who is in training and suddenly gets the diagnosis of a testicular tumor - I've had that in my 18th month haven't seen it in years." The decisive factor is "that Sebastien gets well. And we keep our fingers crossed - that's the most important thing. Everything else is a side effect."
Watzke did not want to be looked at in the cards as to whether the black and yellow would sign a Haller replacement at short notice in the summer: "We shouldn't always take the second step before the first. We should now wait and see what happens next really is the accurate diagnosis." Then you think about it. But Watzke also makes it clear: "Of course it would be negligent and dishonest not to say that you're collecting a little more ideas, but definitely not more."
That the great Dortmund rival Bayern Munich the BVB transfer coups with Haller, Niklas Süle (Bayern Munich), Nico Schlotterbeck (SC Freiburg), Karim Adeyemi (RB Salzburg) and Sali Özcan (1. FC Köln) with the purchases of the stars Sadio Mané (Liverpool FC) and Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus Turin) and probably Mathys Tel (Stade Rennes) answered, was no surprise for Watzke: “I knew beforehand that Bayern Munich is able to do great things on the transfer market ."
Mané and de Ligt are "great for the Bundesliga, I say now as Chairman of the DFL Supervisory Board, and I think they did a good job. That's good for the league," emphasized Watzke on Sky. Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn, on the other hand, also evaluates the transfer offensive of the black and yellow as positive.
"I think it's good that Dortmund has strengthened itself and wants to attack. That also applies to Leipzig," said the former national goalkeeper in an interview with "tz/Merkur": "We want to be champions, but we don't mind either , when it's the last day of the game. It's always in our interest that we're super strong internationally, but also that the Bundesliga is super strong."
With regard to his function in the German Football League, Watzke Kahn should agree. As far as the title fight in the Bundesliga is concerned, the BVB boss certainly has a different opinion: He hopes for a better end for his BVB.
