On the 15th, the Bundesliga this season came to an end. Bayern won an unprecedented ten consecutive championships, and another giant, Dortmund, ranked second.
For Dortmund, the coming summer will be a time of overturning and rebuilding. In addition to the transfer of the main striker Haaland, Witsel, Schmelzer, Zagadou, Burki, Hitz, Rainier and Panglacic will also say goodbye.
Haaland bids farewell, replacement is hard to find
The match against Hertha Berlin on the 15th is Dortmund's last Bundesliga game of the season, and Haaland's last time to represent Dortmund.
Haaland said goodbye to the home fans before the game.
Haaland has already decided to leave Dortmund at the end of the season, and Manchester City has paid his 60 million euro contract release clause.
The club sent Haaland flowers and a thank you card.
In this game, Dortmund reversed their opponents 2-1, and Haaland scored a penalty.
Since joining the team from Red Bull Salzburg in the winter window of the 2019-20 season, Haaland has scored 86 goals and scored 23 assists in 89 appearances, helping the team to win once German Cup champion.
With 86 goals in 89 games, there is no doubt that Haaland is an extremely efficient shooter, so how does he fill the void?
Dortmund is looking for five major candidates, of which the most powerful is undoubtedly Ajax's Alai.
The Cote d'Ivoire national team broke out this season, scoring 34 goals in various competitions, including 11 goals in the Champions League. He played for Frankfurt from 2017 to 2019 and has proved himself to be a good center in the Bundesliga, and he is the same as Haaland. He is tall and strong, and his fulcrum is even more obvious.
But in the way of competition, Alai and Haaland are quite different, and the speed and frequency are much worse than those of the Norwegians.
Given that Ajax's purchase price from West Ham United last year was as high as 22.5 million euros, the transfer fee is difficult to be less than 35 million euros.
In addition, Bayern also intends to buy Allai to replace Lewandowski, and Dortmund faces a lot of competition.
The other 4 candidates are all post-00s, including Reims' Ekitik, Prague Sparta's Hrogek, and Salzburg's two new strikers Sheshko and Okafor.
Haaland scores a penalty
The 19-year-old Ekitik has scored 9 goals in Ligue 1 this season. With a height of 1.90 meters, he has excellent speed and foot ability, but he currently weighs only 70 kilograms, and his playing style is not a positive center.
Hrogzek, the leader of the young Czech generation, has always been linked with Dortmund in the past year.
Rosicky, the hero who won the championship in 2002, is currently the sports director of Sparta Prague. Dortmund has the advantage of being "close to the water".
But the problem is that although Hrozhek has good statistics this season, with 8 goals and 13 assists in the Czech League, the actual progress is not great, and the prospects are not necessarily bullish.
Switzerland international Okafor has a strong impact and comprehensive ability, but Salzburg just sold Adeyemi to Dortmund. If Okafor continues to be sold, then there will be no striker partners left this season.
As for the 18-year-old Slovenian star Sheshko, he is exactly the same height as 1.94-meter Haaland, and has an amazing speed. He is a good seed for a center, but he is not the main force of Salzburg this season. He replaced Haaland.
In a word, in this era when the center is a rare commodity, it is easier said than done to introduce a Haaland replacement with certain development potential and outstanding combat power.
Many veterans have left the team and will rebuild this summer
There are also a group of veterans leaving the team with Haaland. The team's meritorious Schmelzer announced that he would hang up his boots. The two goalkeepers Burki and Hitz will both look for new challenges. Witsel, Zagadou, Rainier and Pang Gracic will also be out of contract.
One of the veterans who left the team is the most special, he is the left back Schmelzer who has played for the team for 17 seasons.
Since his son Magdeburg U17 joined the Dortmund youth team in July 2005, the winger has dedicated all his career to Dortmund, winning 2 Bundesliga titles and 3 German Cups with the team. It is the main force that Dortmund under Klopp can break Bayern's monopoly.
However, in the past 4 seasons, he has been trapped in the continuous invasion of injuries and is no longer the main rotation of the team. This time, he has also made up his mind to officially announce his retirement after the end of this season and end his career as a player. Meltzer will most likely continue to work in football, and it is also possible to be a coach.
In addition, club legend Zorc, who has worked for the Yellow and Black for more than 40 years as a player and then as a sporting director, will step down at the end of the season.
The fate and origin of Zorc and the "Bumblebee" starts from the player's time.
As a capable midfielder in the 1980s and 1990s, Zorc started out in the youth training of Dortmund. Since his promotion to the first team in 1981, he has played for all of his career and won 2 league titles with the team. At the end of his career, he also won the Champions League with the team in the 1996-97 season.
After retiring, he entered the management team and witnessed the ups and downs of the team. After serving as the general manager of sports in 2005, he helped the team to introduce a number of players with excellent ability and cultivated talents including Schmeier. Many young talents, including Ce, will enter the supervisory board of Dortmund after leaving office this time, and continue his more than 40 years of yellow and black career.
The end of a season is actually the beginning of a new season. After more than two months, what will happen to the new Dortmund?