DUSSELDORF: Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc has responded critically to Bayern Munich’s honorary president Uli Hoeness for questioning the transfer policy of the Bundesliga runners-up.
“I find the comments quite arrogant. If you have €250 million (RM1.24 billion) more [than others] in the pocket every year, you even smell good with full trousers,” Zorc was quoted by various media on Monday.
Hoeness had said Dortmund’s model of signing youngsters to sell at a huge profit meant players lacked identification with the club.
“If Dortmund buy a highly talented player and he plays well, a few months later you will hear either from within the club itself or from outside, that he will eventually be for sale,” the 68-year-old said in an interview with Monday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
“How can a player absorb the DNA of a club 100% if he feels he is for sale? We don’t have that at all. We get players for Bayern Munich. And never to make a business out of it.”
Dortmund have lost several star players throughout the years with Bayern among the clubs to benefit by signing Mats Hummels and Mario Gotze for large fees and Robert Lewandowski for free.
English winger Jadon Sancho could be next to depart having been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United in the Bild paper and English media.
Sancho was among those to return to Dortmund training on Monday after uninjured players returned only negative coronavirus tests.
The next Bundesliga season begins September 18 with Dortmund hoping to end Bayern’s run of seven consecutive titles. Dortmund lost home and away to Munich in the previous season which was interrupted by the global pandemic.
Marco Reus, Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer and Mahmoud Dahoud must regain fitness before resuming training though the previously injured Thomas Delaney and Manuel Akanji are back. – dpa
