Club football is back, and Borussia Dortmund have already been busy. Three weeks into the summer window, the picture is starting to form — some smart young signings, a couple of significant departures, and one transfer pursuit that could define their entire season.
The arrivals: building young and building deep
The headline signing is 19-year-old center-back Joane Gadou, in from Red Bull Salzburg for around $22 million. A product of PSG's academy, Gadou spent two seasons developing in Austria and arrives with a serious pedigree — he's been described as "further ahead at this age than Dayot Upamecano was back then." With Niklas Süle retired and Nico Schlotterbeck already ruled out until mid-September with a ligament injury, Gadou could be playing first-team football sooner than expected. His contract runs until 2031.
Left-back depth was another glaring need. Daniel Svensson played 2,452 minutes last season largely because there was nobody behind him. Enter Kauã Prates, a 17-year-old Brazilian from Cruzeiro for roughly $7 million. His former coach Leonardo Jardim — who also worked with Mbappé at Monaco — called him "a balanced full-back that all coaches like... good at set pieces and has both defensive and offensive qualities." That's exactly the profile Dortmund needed. He won't displace Svensson immediately, but the competition is healthy.
Ecuadorian midfielder Justin Lerma, 18, finally joins after being announced as far back as May 2024. He arrives from Independiente Del Valle with a reputation for explosive dribbling and a taste for shots from the edge of the box. He already scored in preseason. Then there's Takato Yamamoto — an 18-year-old Japanese midfielder on loan from Gamba Osaka with a $1.7 million buy option. He's probably reserve-team bound, but he scored in Dortmund's opening friendly and Dortmund's midfield is thin enough that stranger things have happened.
What leaves a hole — and what doesn't
Julian Brandt's departure is the one that stings. Seven years, 1,607 minutes last season, third in goals, fourth in combined goals and assists. He was the connective tissue in Dortmund's attack, and replacing that output isn't a question of finding one player — it's a question of whether several younger players can collectively absorb what he provided.
Karim Adeyemi heads to Barcelona for $25 million plus a 35% sell-on clause and up to $8 million in conditional payments. Four years, flashes of genuine quality, but ultimately a player who never quite nailed down a starting spot ahead of Maximilian Beier. The fee is fair. Niklas Süle, meanwhile, has retired from professional football entirely due to health issues — he'll play amateur football for SV Tiefenbach, which is frankly a lovely story even if it leaves a gap in the squad.
- Salih Özcan — free transfer to Besiktas after 73 Bundesliga minutes last season
- Cole Campbell — sold to SV Elversberg for $7 million after five Bundesliga appearances across three years
- Kjell Wätjen — transferred to FC Midtjylland, where he'll work under former Dortmund coach Mike Tullberg alongside ex-teammate Youssoufa Moukoko
Karestsas is the name to watch
Dortmund's primary target is Genk's Konstantinos Karestsas — 18 years old, Greek international, and the man who finished second in the Belgian Pro League assist charts last season with 10, adding four more in Europe. He plays wide or in the hole behind the forward, and by all accounts he's exactly the Brandt-shaped replacement Dortmund need: technically sharp, creative under pressure, capable of playing-making at pace.
It won't be cheap. The fee is expected to land between $30–35 million. But sporting director Ole Book and CEO Lars Ricken traveled to Genk personally to broker the deal, and both sides left the table confident. Dortmund are in pole position. Given the Brandt void and Adeyemi's exit, the pressure to close this one is real — and Dortmund's attacking odds next season look very different depending on whether Karestsas arrives or not.
Nicolo Tresoldi, the Belgian Pro League's top scorer, has also been loosely linked — but with Guirassy staying after his release clause expired on July 15, and Tresoldi seemingly bound for Roma, that one appears to be going nowhere. Jadon Sancho's name is floating around again too, as it does every summer without fail. The 26-year-old is a free agent after a loan at Aston Villa produced just two goals in 873 minutes, though his underlying creation numbers remain decent. Whether Dortmund actually move for him or whether this is just another chapter in an eternal rumour remains the question nobody can quite answer.
The window is three weeks old. The bones of the squad are there. Whether Karestsas arrives to put meat on them is what the next few weeks hinge on.
