MY ACCOUNT
Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic is “fully convinced” of the quality in his squad, despite a lack of firepower up front.
Dortmund sold Erling Haaland to Manchester City, with the Norway forward moving on after two-and-a-half years in the Bundesliga.
Haaland scored 86 goals in 89 appearances across all competitions for Dortmund, who brought in Sebastien Haller as the 22-year-old’s replacement.
However, the former Ajax and West Ham striker was last month found to have a malignant testicular tumour, with Dortmund confirming the 28-year-old will now undergo chemotherapy.
That has left Terzic, who has replaced Marco Rose as coach, with Donyell Malen – who managed only five league goals in his first season at Dortmund – as his likely striker choice for Saturday’s Bundesliga opener against Bayer Leverkusen.
Terzic has no doubt over the quality at his disposal, though he suggested Dortmund will look to bring in another forward before the end of the transfer window.
“A coach’s job is to find the best internal solution with the players available,” he said in a news conference. “I am fully convinced and we are fully convinced of our squad, of the qualities in the squad.
“That we also said before the season that we lost something in the centre of attack with the departure of Erling Haaland, which we then wanted to make up for by signing Sebastien.
“And when these qualities are not available, then of course you have to think about it. We are doing that now. We are in a very close and trusting exchange.
“But the job of a coach now is to find the best possible solution with the available players that are there. And with the players available, I’m convinced that we can have a very, very good season.”
One player who will not be available for Saturday is Niklas Sule. The centre-back signed from Bayern Munich on a free transfer, but suffered an injury in the DFB-Pokal win over 1860 Munich on July 29.
“Unfortunately, Niklas injured his muscle in the first half of the game,” Terzic explained. “On the front [of the] thigh. He wanted to keep playing. To be on the safe side, we substituted him at half-time.
“Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to train with us this week, so he’s not yet available for the coming weekend. He’s already pain-free, so we’re slowly starting to not only treat him with therapy. We just hope it doesn’t take too long.”
