According to Hans-Joachim Watzke, saying goodbye to Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski would hit football hard in Germany.
“The lack of stars is a great danger for the Bundesliga,” said the managing director of Borussia Dortmund and chairman of the board of directors German football league in an interview with “Sport Bild” and added: “We have to be careful and try to keep many of the stars that we still have – which is difficult given the great financial pressure from England,” said Watzke.
With Bayern professional Lewandowski and Dortmund striker Haaland there are currently “two absolute world stars in the Bundesliga who outshine everyone else – even Manuel Neuer or Thomas Müller – and are most popular abroad. If they go away at some point, it will of course be even more difficult for Donata Hopfen and her employees,” said Watzke. Hopfen is Christian Seifert’s successor at the head of the DFL and is therefore responsible for marketing the Bundesliga.
For Watzke, the Bundesliga is less about orienting itself to the totals in the English Premier League, but about positioning itself well in comparison with Italy and France and reducing the gap to Spain.
Haaland’s future remains open
Watzke did not comment specifically on Haaland’s future at Borussia Dortmund. “We don’t currently know anything specific from the players, nor has anyone approached us,” said Watzke. But he admitted that “if Manchester City come, we won’t be able to keep up financially”. Contract talks with FC Bayern Munich “are really not my topic. I don’t have an inside view. But I suspect that at the end of the day Robert will Bayern will stay.”
Nevertheless, Watzke does not consider it unlikely that the 21-year-old internationally sought-after goalscorer will say goodbye and is also flirting with the possibilities that would arise from the sale of Haaland. “If Haaland leaves, we will find another new talent and develop it into a star. And that will also do the Bundesliga good.”
The BVB boss recalled the departures of Lewandowski in 2014 to Bayern and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2018 to Arsenal. In this context, Watzke also made it clear that the economic gap between FC Bayern and BVB has increased significantly again. “What you have to keep in mind: The gap in salary volume between first-placed Bayern and second-placed Dortmund is now probably more than 150 million euros. And that’s larger than the gap between us and Greuther Fürth in 18th place.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220330-99-725635/3 (dpa)
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