Dortmund looking for a Favre from new coach
Borussia Dortmund’s new head coach Lucien Favre has spoken of his desire to fulfil his ambition of success with a team that is ready to adapt to gain glory.
Dortmund axed Peter Stöger at the end of last term after they came fourth and only just qualified for the Champions League. His exit came after a frustrating season that started with Dutchman Peter Bosz at the helm until he was shown the door midway through the campaign.
Favre, who is aged 60, had been on Dortmund’s radar for some time and they finally got their man when the former Borussia Mönchengladbach coach left French outfit Nice to take up the role at Signal Iduna Park.
Favre, who knows the Bundesliga inside out from his time with Gladbach and his spell at Hertha Berlin, says he is looking for an intelligent approach from his players, one that is full of dynamism, pragmatism and an ability to adapt at all times through the various transition of play.
He said:
“Yes, of course my wish is that we can play through our entire team, starting from the goalkeeper, finding intelligent ways to get to the goal,”
Favre told reporters.
“We want to play high up the pitch, and we have to be able to counter. A team that can’t counter is not a great team. It will take time because it doesn’t take just one week or one month.”
One of the key aspects to the decision to appoint Favre is what is seen as his ability to develop his squad and to be able to bring a balance to his side, says Dortmund’s isporting director Michael Zorc. He added:
“Lucien has a clear game philosophy with a clear structure. His teams always have a good balance between attack and defence and that’s what we’re searching for.”
Favre joins the club with a clutch of new players already recruited in the shape of Eintracht Frankfurt’s Marius Wolf, Mainz’s Abdou Diallo, Thomas Delaney from Werder Bremen as well as Augsburg’s Marwin Hitz.
Meanwhile, another new face on the horizon is said to be Crystal Palace ace Wilfried Zaha. Newspaper reports suggest that Dortmund could “cash in” on Andriy Yarmolenko after just one term with the club as they look to raise money to fund a bid to snare Zaha. West Ham, who have just snapped up midfielder Jack Wilshere from Arsenal, are said to be hopeful of recruiting the Ukraine forward and are ready with a £20million swoop move after losing out on Javier Pastore.
However, Dortmund face competition for the capture of Zaha. Not only do Palace want to keep their attacker, new Everton coach Marco Silva is also said to be keen to sign Zaha. Silva wants to land jet-heeled Zaha to lead his strike force for next season as he bids to get the Toffees challenging for a place in Europe.
