Dortmund’s January Transfers, Loans & Sales: More Out Than In
For Borussia Dortmund, the January transfer window came at an inopportune moment. Whilst it was clear that the club would need to bring in some reinforcements on account of their league performance and the fact that they were only able to make it into the knockout phase play-offs of the Champions League, to say nothing of having to take part in the ridiculous new-look FIFA Club World Cup in the summer, the way things have gone for Die Borussen is such that change at the top had to happen, making transfers more confusing.
A New Manager
On the 22nd of January, it was confirmed that Borussia Dortmund had sacked their head coach Nuri Şahin. The decision came in the wake of the club’s loss to Bologna in the Champions League, meaning that they had suffered four successive defeats in all competitions since they returned from their winter break. Having been beaten finalists in the Champions League the previous season, the loss to the Italian side meant that they had already lost three times in the competition and left their hopes hanging by a thread.
21 minutes in to Dortmund’s first game after sacking Nuri Sahin and Nico Schlotterbeck gets sent off for a clumsy last-man tackle.
Dortmund continue to Dortmund…
— Stefan Bienkowski (@sbienkowski.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
The feeling was that getting rid of Şahin with a week or so left of the January transfer window would allow whoever came in to replace him the opportunity to bring in one or two signings of their own, rather than spending more money under the club’s former midfielder.
A week after Şahin’s dismissal, Dortmund won 3-1 against Shakhtar Donetsk, but it wasn’t enough to put them into the last 16 automatically. They also sat tenth in the Bundesliga, seven points outside the top four and with a Champions League place next season looking unlikely.
@sport1news Große Worte von Niko Kovac über Niklas Süle! Ob seine Prophezeiungen tatsächlich wahr werden, steht in den Sternen.💫 #sport1news #sport1 #fußball #bvb #kovac #süle #bundesliga ♬ Originalton – SPORT1
Mike Tullberg was given the job on a caretaker basis, with Niko Kovač confirmed as the new manager on the second of February. With the January window ‘slamming shut’ on the third of the month, it didn’t actually give the former Bayern Munich manager much time to bring in the players that he wanted.
As far as Dortmund were concerned, however, the change of coach might prove to be the best decision that they could make. The truth is that they squad isn’t good enough, but without being able to make wholesale changes making an alteration to the man in charge is the best they could do.
Two Ins Was All They Could Manage
Dortmund are not in a good position right now. Although that sentence could easily be regarding their place in the Bundesliga, it is more a spiritual comment than a footballing one. The club has somehow got itself into a bit of a mess, with the appointment of Kovač being the sixth manager Der BVB have made since 2018.
With only really Jamie Gittens and Felix Nmecha coming away from the season so far with any kind of credit to their name, there are many who feel that major changes needed to occur at the Westfalenstadion.
Sadly for the club, they couldn’t start in the January window. Instead, there were just two arrivals of note during the month, with one of them being a loan player. The German side were able to bring in Carney Chukwuemeka from Chelsea, with the club securing him on a loan with an option to buy that will come in this summer. The deal was done just before the window closed for German sides on Monday afternoon. The club’s sporting director described Carney as ‘an extremely talented box-to-box player’ with ‘dynamism’.
Carney Chukwuemeka Joins BVB! 👋
Borussia Dortmund have secured 21-year-old midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka on loan from Chelsea until summer 2025, with an option to make the move permanent. ✍️ pic.twitter.com/LrwmiTtgcm
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) February 3, 2025
Having made just 32 appearances for Chelsea since signing from Aston Villa in 2022, scoring twice and getting one assist, the Blues obviously felt giving the player a chance to gain some experience would be a good thing. Born in Austria, Chukwuemeka only managed 130 minutes across give games for the London club before departing for Dortmund. The hope is that he will be able to kick-start his career at the same time as helping Die Borussen get their own season back on track, bolstering their attacking options.
🚨⚫️🟡
OFFICAL: Daniel Svensson signs for Borussia Dortmund!
#BVB
— schwarzgelben09.bsky.social (@schwarzgelben09.bsky.social) February 3, 2025 at 2:16 PM
The club’s other signing of the window, at least as far as this season is concerned, was Daniel Svensson. The Swedish left-back also arrived on loan, this time from Nordsjælland, with the aim being to give the German side more options at the back. They also have an option to buy him in the summer, should he do enough to impress the Dortmund hierarchy. Quite whether those two players alone will be enough to see an improvement remains to be seen, but there is not a huge amount of hope bubbling around the Westfalenstadion.
Numerous Outgoings
It is slightly untrue to say that Dortmund only signed two players in January, with the club also spending €5 million in order to sign Diant Ramaj from Ajax. That the young goalkeeper was sent straight to Copenhagen on loan, however, means that he won’t be making any kind of impression on the squad this season. His wasn’t the only loan that Der BVB gave the go-ahead to either. Sébastien Haller returned from his loan at Leganés in Spain only to be sent straight back out, this time to the Dutch side of Utrecht.
@espnfc TAKE A BOW, DONYELL #MALEN 👏🔥 #dortmund #bvb #skills #goals #bundesliga #football ♬ Originalton – CENKGO
There was a major out-going in the form of Donyell Malen, with the Dutch forward once having been seen as one of the club’s future hopes. Instead of that being the case, however, the 26-year-old was sold to Aston Villa for around €25 million. That money will almost certainly be put to use in the summer as Dortmund look to complete revamp their squad. It is obviously far from ideal for the side to be so thin in terms of quality, but given the short amount of time Kovač had to try to bring people in it will be seen as they best they could do.
