Borussia Dortmund has found the successor to star striker Erling Haaland: According to media reports, Sebastien Haller passed the medical check-up in Dortmund on Thursday.
According to information from table football the transfer will not officially take place until July. For Ajax Amsterdam, as the selling club, this has the advantage that it can take the income into the new financial year. Noisy sky Haller should sign a four-year contract with BVB. The attacker is also not yet expected to start training in Dortmund, but should only join his new team a week before the training camp that begins on July 15.
In order to make the deal perfect, the 1.90 meter center forward interrupted his vacation in his home country of Ivory Coast. In the absence of a direct flight to the city of his new employer, the Ivorian international made a stopover in Paris. But nobody should stop him at BVB: those responsible are certain that Haller has been found as the missing piece of the puzzle in a strong offensive in the hunt for series champions Bayern Munich.
They were finally able to get a painful picture of his abilities. The 28-year-old contributed two goals to the two Dortmund Champions League defeats in the group stage last season against Ajax Amsterdam. That’s why managing directors Hans-Joachim Watzke and Sebastian Kehl are even changing a strategy that has been tried and tested for years: Instead of signing a young striker who can be sold on profitably, they are relying on a seasoned professional at Haller. For this, the runner-up allegedly transfers 31 million euros to Amsterdam, plus four million euros in bonuses.
While Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Erling Haaland matured from top talent to stardom in Dortmund, Haller has already proven his skills at several stations. He is considered a variable attacker – strong in the air, powerful, filigree. He doesn’t have the pace of Haaland, but the former Frankfurter also guarantees goals.
Haller scored 47 goals in 65 games for Ajax Amsterdam
He scored an impressive 47 goals in 65 competitive games for the Dutch record champions. Haller was also feared by opponents during his time in the Bundesliga: In 77 matches in the Eintracht jersey he scored 33 goals, twice in the league against BVB.
Haller was actually tied to Ajax until 2024. One reason for the change is the departure of coach Erik ten Hag to the English record champions Manchester United, because he owes a lot. “I used to get annoyed if I didn’t get the ball for ten minutes. I lost my focus and when the opportunity presented itself, I missed it,” Haller told im ESPN-Interview. Ten Hag taught him “to deal with it better”.
He also wants to provide proof in Dortmund. Haller is after Karim Adeyemi (RB Salzburg), Niklas Süle (Bayern Munich), Nico Schlotterbeck (SC Freiburg), Salih Özcan (1. FC Köln), Jayden Braaf (Manchester City) and the goalkeepers Alexander Meyer (Jahn Regensburg) and Marcel Lotka (Hertha BSC) is BVB’s eighth new signing. In addition, there is said to be continued interest in national player David Raum (TSG Hoffenheim) as a left-back.
The new sports director Kehl has to sell players first in order to generate income. The main candidates are Thorgan Hazard, Manuel Akanji and Nico Schulz. With corresponding offers in the millions, the club would probably also be ready for negotiations with Raphael Guerreiro and Emre Can.
