£25m for a benchwarmer? Bundesliga club working magic under the radar

Jobe Bellingham, Daniel Svensson and then? Nothing. For a long time, impatient waiting dominated Borussia Dortmund’s transfer summer. Now Sebastian Kehl & Co. have made two purchases. Carney Chukwuemeka has already proven his BVB suitability. With Fábio Silva, a mystery that cost a whopping 25 million euros, is coming to the Ruhr area. There is no place in the first eleven, but there is a lot of criticism – and a really clever plan.

At first glance, the skepticism of many BVB supporters is very understandable. Silva managed a meager four goals in 62 Premier League games. Previously, the Wolverhampton Wanderers had invested the club’s record sum of 40 million euros in the striker. “I had no time and no space to make mistakes,” the Portuguese described his biggest problem to ‘The Athletic’.

But there will be little of both in Dortmund. The top dog in the attack is Serhou Guirassy, who coach Niko Kovač, after 34 goals in 45 games last season, rightly repeatedly refers to as “life insurance”. He will not voluntarily give up on that. In addition, Sporting Director Sebastian Kehl emphasized at ‘Sky’ in early August that the possibilities of his club were “also somewhat limited economically”. And now a million-man for the bench?

That’s exactly the plan.   “We need a large squad with high quality,” Kovač explained to ‘Sport Bild’ almost two weeks ago. Only then can the “dance on three weddings” succeed. A renewed final sprint for the CL places should be avoided as much as possible. Acting instead of reacting is the new commandment of the hour at Westfalenstadion. Investing fits not only linguistically.

Because at second glance, the Silva deal offers multifaceted potential with manageable risk. Despite his only 23 years, the new national player of Portugal already has six years of professional football under his belt and believes himself to have “matured” during this time. He has worked through the pressure to succeed from his Wolves time with a mental coach.

“In recent years, I no longer put myself under so much pressure,” he summarized at ‘The Athletic’ the success of the measure. Doubts have given way to a pronounced self-confidence: “All the noise around me earlier… I don’t read anything anymore. I know what I can give my team.” The facts underline this.

During his last stint at Gran Canaria with UD Las Palmas, the goal ratio was right. Ten goals in 24 games for a relegated team are decent. A symbolic highlight of his career was the duel against FC Barcelona last November. Despite a hip-high pass, Silva handled the ball well and scored the 2:1 winning goal.

With his pace and – according to his own statements – his preference for duels, Silva can set impulses at any time as a joker or starter. With his style as a “success-driven, working striker”, as Kehl described it in the press release on his commitment, he also fulfills the often desired Ruhr area cliché of the worker.

Even if Silva never fully develops his promising profile in Dortmund, the probability is low that it is a bad deal for BVB. Lars Ricken and Sebastian Kehl also know this. In the aforementioned announcement, the Borussia bosses speak of “great potential” and that “this transfer is very valuable for us”. The new addition is also an expensive speculative object.

The idea behind it, on the other hand, is quite low-risk. If Silva hits harder than the Essen striker on Yan Cuoto’s knee, BVB, as a renowned premium training club, will not be able to fend off inquiries. If he plays little because the team of Niko Kovač is running, the money comes back in elsewhere. If something happens in between, for example a quota like at Las Palmas, there is still a good chance that a rich PL club will fall in love with him and open the wallet very wide.

Is it nonsense? Then ask in Stuttgart what can be earned with a 23-year-old, playful center forward who scored twelve goals in 28 Bundesliga games last season. Which BVB fan would still remember how late in the transfer window Silva was signed?

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

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