BVB, News and Rumours: He seems to lack prospects on the pitch! Is a bitter departure looming at Borussia Dortmund?

As reported by Ruhr24, Nick Cherny may no longer play for Borussia Dortmund in future. According to the report, the 18-year-old attacking all-rounder, whose season is likely to end prematurely due to injury, prefers not to renew his expiring contract.

It was only in the summer of 2023 that the three-time German U18 international moved from Arminia Bielefeld’s youth team to BVB. The prolific midfielder won the U17 championship with both Arminia and Borussia. For Dortmund’s reserves, he scored two goals in ten appearances in the Regionalliga West this season – but that was not the only reason why the BVB management had been keen to negotiate a new contract.

However, according to the report, the talented player lacks sufficient opportunities for development at BVB. There are certainly interested parties from the top flight of German football as well as the 2. Bundesliga. It is therefore quite possible that Cherny will never play again for the Black and Yellows, for whose second team he last scored in early February in the match against Wuppertaler SV (2-2).

"He was on the right track. That makes it all the more bitter that we no longer have him at our disposal," explained BVB II head coach Daniel Rios.

It is the question that everything at Borussia Dortmund revolves around: will Nico Schlotterbeck leave or stay? According to Sky, another round of negotiations last Monday between Schlotterbeck’s agent Björn Etzel and the BVB officials led by Sebastian Kehl and Lars Ricken has brought a new dynamic to the negotiations.

Although no breakthrough was reportedly achieved, the 23-time German international is now said to be leaning more towards extending his contract after all. The reasons for this are, on the one hand, that BVB has sent out an important signal by extending Felix Nmecha’s contract. Furthermore, Schlotterbeck has reportedly taken a positive view of the fact that the departures of Julian Brandt, Niklas Süle and Salih Özcan have finally forced a shake-up, and that wing play is set to play a greater role again in future.

Should Borussia succeed in extending his contract, which runs until 2027, BVB would continue to have at their disposal an undisputed leader, a role model and a mentor behind whom talents such as Luca Reggiani can develop. Furthermore, the 26-year-old left-footed player would rise to become one of the club’s top earners.

Will Markus Krösche soon be taking up a senior role at BVB? These rumours gained fresh momentum last Wednesday when reports emerged of a private meeting and dinner between Eintracht Frankfurt’s sporting director and Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac.

Recently, there had been increasing speculation as to whether Kovac and Krösche might become colleagues at BVB in the not-too-distant future. According to Sky, both sporting director Lars Ricken and sporting director Sebastian Kehl are under review at the Black and Yellows – at least their contracts, which run until 2027, are not set to be renewed for the time being.

Should a split actually occur, Krösche would be a suitable successor. At Eintracht Frankfurt, the 45-year-old is reportedly considering leaving, according to a Bild report, as he is unhappy with the discrepancy between financial and sporting expectations.

However, Kovac confirmed during the press conference ahead of the Bundesliga match against Hamburger SV that the meeting had merely concerned private matters. Anything else was “far-fetched”. The meeting with Krösche had come about by chance, as the BVB coach was in Frankfurt for the 70th birthday of Eintracht legend and former president Peter Fischer.

Originally, Kovac had only arranged to meet his former SGE colleague Jan Martin Strasheim, the current Director of Media and Communications at Eintracht, whom he knows from their time together at Frankfurt (2016–2018). Krösche then spontaneously joined this meeting.

Maximum focus until the goal is achieved: Niko Kovac sees no room for experimentation at Borussia Dortmund, despite their comfortable lead over third place. “We still have eight games to go and some very difficult matches against direct rivals,” said Kovac ahead of Saturday evening’s clash with Hamburger SV (6.30 pm/Sky): “That means we mustn’t allow ourselves to become complacent.”

If you start to get complacent, anything can happen in the Bundesliga, the 54-year-old added: "That’s why we’ll be diligent. We’ll work hard. And if we want to try anything out, we’ll have pre-season for that."

Against his former club, Kovac expects another focused performance like the 2-0 win against FC Augsburg last weekend. If they manage that, the eight-point lead over TSG Hoffenheim and VfB Stuttgart could grow further. Given they are nine points behind the dominant FC Bayern, the league’s best second-half team so far (22 points) is unlikely to make any further progress towards the top.

Julian Brandt could reach a special milestone on Saturday: the attacking midfielder, who is leaving BVB at the end of the season, is set to make his 300th appearance in the black and yellow shirt.

(SID)