Nuri Sahin was sacked last week after losing to Bologna in the Champions League and without bright spots in the Bundesliga in a football-disastrous 11th place in the table. Getting rid of what Dortmund thought was the main problem was simple, what is more demanding is finding the replacement who makes a difference. Now, two “secret meetings” are being held in parallel.
Bild reported before Sahin was sacked that Erik ten Hag was on his way in as the new Dortmund coach, but the Dutchman’s demands were too much for the Dortmund management. This week, German media reports “secret” meetings are being held with former Bayern Munich coach Nico Kovac, but it is another candidate, Ralf Rangnick, who is raising eyebrows at Dortmund.
Ralf Rangnick is a pure Red Bull man, as the former Director of Football for Red Bull and coach of RB Leipzig for two rounds. When Jürgen Klopp took the job as Global Head of Soccer at Red Bull, it came as a shock to Borussa Dortmund’s management, players and supporters. “Their” Klopp went to the football enemy!
A signing of Red Bull man Rangnick would thus be sensational. According to German Sky journalist Florian Plettenberg, Dortmund managers Lars Ricken and Hans-Joachim Watzke had a meeting with Ralf Rangnick yesterday in Salzburg.
The club’s ambition with the meeting was to investigate the possibility of Rangnick taking over here and now or when his contract with the Austrian Football Association expires in the summer.
For us, this will be a “reverse Klopp” signing. Red Bull took Klopp, Dortmund takes Red Bull’s old boss.
