Nuri Şahin on Borussia Dortmund’s striker options: “I can’t imagine that we will go into the season with four strikers.”

Speaking to the Ruhr Nachrichten after Borussia Dortmund’s pre-season friendly against Erzgebirge Aue, head coach Nuri Şahin addressed Dortmund’s striker problem.

After the arrival of Serhou Guirassy from VfB Stuttgart, Dortmund now have four senior strikers heading into the new Bundesliga season, with Niclas Füllkrug, Sebastien Haller and Youssoufa Moukoko already at the club. When asked about their striking situation, head coach Nuri Sahin said: “I can’t imagine that we will go into the season with four strikers. Unless we have four to five competitions in which we play. But to my knowledge, we only have three competitions.”

This means that one striker will have to leave the club and the signs point towards that being Haller. Despite interest from AC Milan, Füllkrug is likely to stay at Dortmund, while Moukoko wants to stay at the club and fight for his place under Sahin after being demoted to the bench under Edin Terzic. 

Haller’s time at Dortmund has been mixed. The Ivorian’s first season was hampered by a cancer diagnosis which he beat and returned to in the second half of the season in great former as he played a role in Dortmund’s Bundesliga title fight, however, last season he struggled with injuries and fact that Dortmund signed Füllkrug meant that there was less playing time for him. 

GGFN | Jack Meenan