Dortmund want to sell Akanji, but the transfer of the Swiss stopper is stalled. On what?

Borussia Dortmund are rebuilding their line-up considerably. While on the arrivals front they are celebrating one success after another, the departures are more complicated. Who and why are BVB failing to cash in?

Dortmund’s new sporting director, Sebastian Kehl, has a tough task this summer. To build a team capable of truly challenging Bayern Munich. With the arrivals of players like Adeyemi and Süle, it is clear that BVB want to be a serious contender to win the Bundesliga title in the coming seasons.

However, the laudable arrivals must be backed up by the sale of players who no longer have a place in the team. Not only for the sake of generating profit, but also as a relief to salary expenses and freeing up roster space.

Failure on this front has already meant one tangible loss for Dortmund. Due to the difficulty in selling at least one of the Schulz-Guerreiro left-back pairing, the club was unable to complete the arrival of David Raum, who eventually heads to Leipzig.

A similar difficulty may arise in midfield, where Dortmund have already signed Salih Özcan, but are still being linked with players for that position. The spot should be vacated by Emre Can, who was the target of criticism last season due to a large number of unforced errors.

At the moment, however, there doesn’t seem to be much interest in the German midfielder capable of playing at stopper or on the right edge of defence.

The last man Dortmund are interested in cashing in on is central defender Manuel Akanji. The Swiss stopper is aiming to play in the Premier League, which was thought to be one of the reasons why spring negotiations for a new contract ended in failure.

Even before the start of the transfer window, therefore, a number of speculations surfaced linking Akanji with Manchester United, Spurs, Arsenal and a number of other leading English clubs.

Dortmund were apparently counting on his sale. However, neither for Akanji, nor for the other players mentioned, the club has still not been able to find a bidder capable of meeting the requirements of both the club and the players themselves. Not everyone wants to leave Dortmund.

Whether the reason is the high salaries or simply the relationship with the club, the failure to sell players could cost Dortmund a place in the battle for the league title in the soon to start season.

Source: Bundesliga