BVB might have found a surprising new candidate for the role.
It would be an understatement to say that Borussia Dortmund have been in a lot of turmoil lately. Ludicrously, their league form has them 11th in the table and, at the moment, far from a sport in the Champions League. They sacked their project manager Nuri Sahin just over 6 months after they appointed him and brought in Niko Kovač for an 18 month deal in what is clearly a short term solution for the club. How have things gone so wrong?
Well, one common critique of Dortmund has been how many ex-Dortmund executives the club has amassed. Sporting director Sebastian Kehl, managing director Lars Ricken, Sven Mislintat (only recently removed from his position), Sahin and advisor Matthias Sammer are some of the biggest decision makers at the club and all have a Dortmund past. And the feeling is that the club needs a new impulse to get back on track.
If a new impulse is what a club needs, they can do a whole lot worse than Ralf Rangnick. Bild reports, as captured by Get German Football News, that the current Austria manager could join the club as a sporting director:
Bild reports that there is a possibility that Ralf Rangnick could replace Sebastian Kehl and become the new sporting director of Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Rangnick is no longer satisfied with his role as head coach of the Austrian national team due to conflicts with the people in charge. Rangnick was also a topic in the winter for Dortmund [to be head coach] as they looked to replace Nuri Şahin.
The former Leipzig director can imagine becoming sporting director at Dortmund, and within the club, he is also valued for his ability to build a squad. However, what is unlikely is that he will not be taking on a dual role as head coach and sporting director.
Rangnick is notorious for wanting total control for wherever he goes. That was one of the reasons he rejected the job as Bayern Munich head coach last year. Will Dortmund really be willing to completely change tracks and go from a group of executives doing things the “Dortmund” way to ceding control to an outsider? Given how dire the situation currently is, perhaps their hand could be forced.
