DORTMUND, Germany — Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc has said that the club are focused on offloading players before the closure of the transfer window on Aug. 31.
After signing Barcelona striker Paco Alcacer on a one-year loan on Tuesday, Dortmund have 30 players in their squad. Nuri Sahin and Shinji Kagawa were excluded from the 18-man squad for Sunday’s 4-1 win over RB Leipzig.
Both players have been linked with late moves to Fenerbahce and Sevilla respectively but are likely to stay put at the Westfalenstadion. Sebastian Rode, Alexander Isak and Jeremy Toljan are also on the list of players the club would consider offloading.
“We can agree on the fact that our squad is not too small,” Zorc told a news conference on Wednesday. “We are looking at what is feasible. However, it’s a complicated situation.”
Zorc also revealed that it was intentional to only add one striker to fill the void left by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who joined Arsenal in January and Michy Batshuayi, whose loan deal ran out at the end of last season.
“First, we were assessing the situation for our own squad and if we needed to add another striker,” he added. “Second, having a new coach in Lucien [Favre], we wanted to coordinate such a decision with him first.”
Favre said he is satisfied with the addition of Alcacer.
“Alcacer is a No. 9, not a winger,” Favre said. “He can combine with his teammates but also makes runs behind the defence. His teammates will have to get used to him.”
The Spaniard is available for Dortmund’s match at Hannover on Friday but Favre said: “”He only fully trained [on Wednesday], so it’s just one more training [before I have to make a decision] but we will see.”
Despite Dortmund’s emphatic opening win on Sunday, the Swiss coach warned that his team still had a lot of work to do.
“We still have to improve in a lot of details,” Favre said. “For example: how to intervene with the left foot instead of the right foot.
“Hannover play a flat 4-4-2 but their coach could change the system. Nevertheless, they are very compact, making it tough to play against.”
Favre declared that no player was injured going in the Friday night game in the league leaders’ final match before the international break.
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