📚 Table of Contents 1. Summer Window 2. Squad Construction Critique 3. The Coaching Carousel + Tactical Overviews of Each 4. The Boardroom Problem ( Very Important ) 5. Player Evaluations 6. The Great Overhaul 7. Ideal XI for 2025/26. 8. New Manager Pipeline 9. Final Thoughts

1. Summer Transfer Window Before diving into player departures or arrivals, it’s important to start with one of the biggest stories of the summer: BVB and former head coach Edin Terzic officially parting ways. Taking over was his assistant, Nuri Şahin – a club legend with an

2. Squad Construction Critique From the very start of the season, the structure of the squad felt like it had been designed to fail. Not because it lacked talent entirely, but because it lacked any semblance of planning, coherence, or tactical foresight. I disagreed with almost

3. The Coaching Carousel + Tactical Overviews of Each Part 1: Nuri Şahin Now, onto the coaches, Şahin wasn’t appointed for his résumé; he was appointed for convenience. Terzić left abruptly, and rather than use it as a chance to reset, the club turned inward. It was a familiar

Part 2: Mike Tullberg Tullberg wasn’t brought in to fix anything long-term. He was brought in to stop the bleeding. After Şahin’s exit and four straight losses, Dortmund needed someone who knew the club (Ironic, I’m aware, but it’s the BVB way). That was Tullberg, a youth coach

Part 3: Niko Kovač Kovač was then brought in on February 2nd as the new Head Coach of BVB for the remainder of the season on a 1.5. When he was brought in, it was for one goal only: To fix the table. With the club spiraling – 11th place, no clear style, and no plan – the mission

4. The Boardroom Problem This is the section where I will be most opinionated, and I want to preface that now. There is no other section in this thread that I care about more than this one, because no other group at this club has failed as comprehensively, repeatedly, or

5. Player Evals (I'm sure I'll get some disagreements here, but these are my honest thoughts) Part 1: Keepers Gregor Kobel - Make Available for Sale Kobel is a strong shot-stopper, but it’s become impossible to ignore just how catastrophically incompatible he is with any modern

Part 2: Defense Yan Couto - Probably Sell Couto is a very good player, but a very system-specific one. His ceiling in a 3ATB setup is obvious, but his profile is too specialized to survive system shifts. I personally think Kovač (or the next coach) is likely to revert to a back

Part 3: Midfielders Emre Can – Sell The longer Can stays, the harder it is to talk about this club like it’s serious. There’s no version of a team where Emre Can fits, let alone one where he wears the armband. His press resistance is nonexistent, his passing range is safe at

Part 4: Attackers Karim Adeyemi – Keep Adeyemi is the litmus test for this squad. Everyone sees something different in him, and everyone’s probably right. What is undeniable is that his physical profile is remarkable. His pace is elite, but there's so much more to his game.

6. The Great Overhaul With this in mind, let's build a new team!!! (Now, I'd like to preface something. I'm keenly aware that Dortmund will only be making some of these moves, as it would have substantial cost implications and logistical challenges far beyond the scope of a

Values of Departures (For the values of both departures and arrivals, I will use @Transfersdotcom to gauge the most realistic price. I'm also aware that it's rather challenging to gauge real-time market valuations accurately, so this is the best and most consistent way to do so):

So, at this moment, the biggest needs of the squad are the following positions (in no order): Right Centerback Defensive/Offensive/Central Midfielders (all three) Right Back Backup Leftback/Left Centerback Now, in my perfect and realistic world, BVB would do the following

7. Ideal XI for 2025/26 Subs: Ramaj, Ryerson, Anton, Beier, Groß, Mykhavko, Batrakov, Bardghji, Cissé, Lomónaco, Mane ( Ik there's 11 subs here, we're accommodating for rotations and such )

I want to mention something else right now. Recruitment is super important because you need a clear idea of how you want your team to play, not just the base shape, but the functional structure across phases. What’s the structure in the buildup? How do we defend? What do

8. New Manager Pipeline Earlier, in Section 3, I briefly brushed over Niko Kovač and some of the issues I had with him. While he certainly had positives, the overall negatives outweigh them, and if BVB is to move forward into a new era, in my opinion, they should do so with a

Claudio Giraldez and Nicky Hayen Claudio Giraldez: Giráldez is easily one of the most intriguing coaching profiles out there, and in my opinion, one of the Top 2 in Spain this year. His game model is possession-heavy, chance creation comes through the half-spaces, and the

Cesc Fabregas and Francesco Farioli Cesc Fabregas: I think Fabregas is a very interesting option, and probably more Bundesliga-ready than a lot of people realize. His team plays structured, aggressive possession football with a strong emphasis on technician-heavy build-up. He’s

Franck Haise I wrote about Franck Haise last year as a coach I’d love to see at BVB, and everything since has only reinforced that. In the time between that thread and this one, he took Nice back to the Champions League for the first time in eight years, and built one of the

If I had to rank them in terms of both fit and feasibility, I’d go: Farioli Hayden Giraldez Haise Fabregas That said, I'd be a massive fan of any of them coming.

9. Final Thoughts This season was a sobering one, not just because of the results, but because of what those results revealed. Dortmund wasn’t undone by bad luck or a few underperforming players. We were exposed by a lack of structure, a leadership vacuum, and years of poor

10. A Brief Thank You If you’ve made it this far, thank you. Clearly, this wasn’t a thread written overnight. It sprouted from weeks of reflection, analysis, discussions, X Spaces, coffee, and, above all, love. Love for a club that has shaped so much of who I am. Love for what

(- side note, I'm tagging all of the biggest/my favorite BL/BVB accounts) @sebastiankehl @DrReinholdLunow (most importantly these 2) @aritrabvb1909 @BVB @TheBVBCentral @bvbnewsblog @BVBBuzz @FearTheWall @bvb @BlackYellow @ASjeloFacts @berger_pj @RNBVB @BILD @AroooBVB