Borussia Dortmund begin the 2026/27 Bundesliga season with an expensive and rejuvenated squad. Following a net transfer spend of around €70m, the aim is to inject more creativity and control into manager Niko Kovac's established 3-4-2-1 system.
The summer focus was on the attack. The Greek duo of Konstantinos Karetsas (€30m from Genk) and Giannis Konstantelias (€26m from PAOK) arrived for a combined €56m. They were joined by Joey Veerman, a €22m signing from PSV Eindhoven. Departing were Julian Brandt on a free transfer and Karim Adeyemi, who joined Barcelona for €22m. "We've invested in the central areas to be able to do more interesting things with the ball," explained sporting director Nils Ole Book.
Defence follows the same pattern
The club pursued a similarly youthful strategy in defence. Nineteen-year-old Joane Gadou cost €19.5m from Salzburg, left-back Kauã Prates (€7m) arrived from Cruzeiro, and Justin Lerma (€4m) joined from Ecuador. Talents like Samuele Inácio, Mathis Albert, Enzo dos Santos, and Mussa Kaba were also promoted from the club's own academy. The average age of the incoming group is 19.7 years. Established names such as Niklas Süle (retired) and Salih Özcan (Beşiktaş) departed.
Pre-season offered glimpses of the new-look team. In a 3-2 friendly win at English champions Arsenal, teenagers Inácio, Karetsas, and Gadou all scored. Kovac also experimented with unconventional wing-back setups using inverted players to overload the centre. The final warm-up games against Cerezo Osaka (1-0 loss) and FC Tokyo (1-0 win), however, revealed lingering issues with chance creation.
With the refreshed squad, Dortmund aim to build on last season's runners-up finish. The club's full schedule for the coming months can be found on our fixtures page. The current squad list including all new signings is also available there. The Bundesliga season kicks off on the weekend of August 21st.
