Borussia Dortmund is reportedly back to square one with American attacker Cole Campbell.
The Black and Yellow reportedly turned down Stuttgart’s €4 million transfer fee to acquire Campbell, German outlet Bild reported, transcribed by Ruhr 24. Borussia Dortmund is seeking €8 million for the 19-year-old, despite Campbell already agreeing to a five-year contract with the fellow Bundesliga club.
Campbell had been linked with an exit this summer in hopes of finding consistent playing time elsewhere. Following Borussia Dortmund II’s relegation to the German fourth-tier, first team manager Niko Kovac urged Campbell to look elsewhere for an opportunity to play.
A former Iceland youth national team player, Campbell is a rising prospect within the U.S. men’s national team player pool.
Campbell made six first team appearances for Borussia Dortmund last season and also featured an additional 11 times for Dortmund II. He scored two goals with Dortmund’s reserve team in the 3. Liga.
Campbell’s saga becomes the latest issue for Borussia Dortmund, who has still yet to agree a fee with Serie A side Parma for fellow American, Gio Reyna.
IV under normal circumstances I’d agree with all four of those points. This isn’t a normal circumstance.
– If Cole is sold or loaned he won’t be at U20 WC. I think everyone agrees with that.
– If Dortmund doesn’t move him this window, I think he’ll get released, barring a bunch of injuries to Dortmund first team.
– if he stays he’ll play some for the II team when the schedule aligns as he did last season.
The reports out of Germany Friday seem to be that Dortmund is short on wing players. If they sold Cole they would only have Adeyemi as a true wing player. So until they can get Chukwuemeka signed they can’t let Cole go.
Johnnyrazor,
I call bullshit on this.
Currently, Dortmund’s Sporting Department is a shit show and this is just more nonsense from them. Dortmund has deployed Chukwuemeka as a midfielder, so his presence, or lack thereof, really has no bearing on Cole Campbell’s potential move.
Ironic, isn’t it, that Dortmund is low balling Chelsea with their offer for Chukwuemeka?…but they expect higher than market value for the sale of Campbell and Reyna?
As mentioned yesterday, in my previous post in this same forum, Dormtund is literally a clown show at this time.
Add in the bad form of them publicly announcing that Jobe is being assigned Reyna’s #7, while Reyna is still within the ranks, and that is another clear example of the current shit show that is Dortmund.
Agreed they’re a mess, as evidence by having only two true wingers on their roster a week out from the start of the season. They’ve known this was going to be the case since Duranville got hurt at CWC. Kovac has elected to tuck his attackers in and get width from his wingbacks most of the time anyway. That’s allowed him to use a striker like Beier, a AM like Brandt or hybrid MFs like Jobe, Chukwuemeka, or even Sabitizer underneath Guirassy. I still think this is better than 50/50 to get done before next weekend, but if Cole plays in the friendly against Juve I’d give it better than 50/50 he stays til January. I think we’ll see a lot of dominoes falling in the next 72 hrs that then open up other transfers like Campbell and Reyna.
i agree about the jersey number thing. i think that telegraphs they don’t really see reyna in their plans past the window.
what i get from the comment is the kids have been deprioritized in real time behind getting the wingers they want in. in theory they would be the fallback, but that’s really a sequencing thing.
kind of CYA because it’s august, they are handing someone reyna’s shirt, and meanwhile they haven’t refilled to the coach/GM’s satisfaction.
i think the kids are afterthoughts getting caught up in grander machinations and CYA.
JR tries to imply below that Dortmund didn’t use campbell because he was hurt. this is not really fully accurate.
(a) middle of the season while healthy Dortmund senior team plays him 19′ across 4 appearances. he’s dressing a lot in B.1 or UCL then simply not seeing the field.
(b) summer while healthy he dresses then gets 0 minutes in CWC across 5 matches.
(c) thus an injury in march-may doesn’t explain why you played 19 league minutes all season after being promoted in october 2024 or gathered dust this summer.
JR then ignores my point is when you rot a prospect on your bench don’t demand some full transfer premium and expect to be paid.
same thing reyna. reyna was out hurt a couple months at the start of last season. it doesn’t explain why reyna’s bit participation over the months after november, or him playing 12′ all summer.
yes, we can explain both by saying “dortmund doesn’t rate them as starters and made a sports decision” but then that’s my point on their transfer hypocrisy. they value them like impact players — which they may have that promise — but they play them like scrubs.
another explanation is they sat them for CWC to protect their assets. ok, sorry, reyna and campbell’s price is then the little used bench player price. no risk no reward.
i mean, lalas’ theory was reyna was called so he wouldn’t go to gold cup and get knocked around. he would get rostered for CWC, sit, and then be sold intact.
also, re “they want them sold out of germany,” surely you see how there is a CYA aspect in ensuring they are in some other league where their exploits pose a comparison issue, and the odds are low they show up on the schedule with the german neighbors and score on you and show you up in the most obvious way possible.
that’s what i got out of sale abroad, loan bundesliga. if you go to the german competition and look good, “we are smart, we kept his rights.” and the loan deal might ban them playing against dortmund. and if they end up in holland or england or whatnot, “that’s a weaker league” or “we got paid.”
it’s a way of trying to avoid accountability.
IV,
Whatever BvB is trying to engineer with Campbell, it’s too early to judge them.
They still have 2-3 weeks before the closing of the window. And if you are a seller, time is your friend until it isn’t. In order to play the game that BvB seem to be playing with Cole, they have to be willing to say NO and keep him.
If that happens the worst thing is that Cole gets depressed and shrivels up and ends up in the USL eventually. . The best thing is that he gets super angry and channels it all into having the greatest year he could possibly have. Stranger things have happened.
“JR then ignores my point is when you rot a prospect on your bench don’t demand some full transfer premium and expect to be paid.”
Why not? Have you ever sold anything? If you want to move something super fast you put a fire sale price on it” Vintage Tesla- $300 OBO.”
You think BvB should start the negotiation by saying “We’ll take whatever you can give us for CC or Gio. ” ??
Very clearly BvB do not want to let either Gio or CC go for fire sale prices.
You approach all this from a USMNT POV like you want Cole and Gio to move ASAP so they can get a shot at the 2026 World Cup roster.
But BVB approaches it from what is best for BVB. They could give a shit about the USMNT or the World Cup.
None of us have all the facts. So we really have no basis for understanding what is best for BvB as they see it.
For example, the Jobe #7 business was a direct and unnecessary slap in Gio’s face. Is Gio doing something on his end to hold up negotiations and is this BvB’s way of telling him to stand down? Someone at BvB is pissed off at Gio.
I don’t know but older brother Jude and Gio were supposedly BFF so this insult seems very pointed and full of nuance.
Anyway, I’m betting on this soap opera running until the last week in August.
Vac: or Gio knows this is going to get done and he was more than happy to hand off his number so they can start selling Jobe #7 jerseys.
JR
“Gio knows this is going to get done and he was more than happy to hand off his number so they can start selling Jobe #7 jerseys.”
Good point.
From what I can tell Gio seems to be very even tempered the whole time ,about all this. Compare that to how Timo Weah’s people ripped Juve a new one over their negotiations.
And maybe Gio’s people need to be more like Timo’s people. Though I have to say that in terms of high profile Dads, Timo’s dad is a much bigger deal than Gio’s dad.
What’s really your point?
simple. they were healthy more than the detractors admit. promise aside, they were little used when healthy. they should then be sold for the little used bench player price.
you see this same issue with CFC where they send someone on loan 4 years and never used them at the parent team but the purchase price seems over-inflated like a CFC prospect. if you rated them that way within CFC they would have gotten a first team number and maybe played some cup games or in the 2 game weeks in the busy season.
if not, their real value is a guy playing ok minutes and performance for eupen or barnsley. not the “chelsea price.”
same here. i like campbell a lot but campbell’s price should be what you ask for a kid who played 19′ all season. ditto reyna. like if you can’t even be bothered to get them on the field in CWC their price should drop accordingly.
and i get it’s their right to keep them there, or to ask what they want to ask, but reyna wanting out then getting stuck there seems to be a biannual thing suggesting their pricing is whacked.
the comparison i made the other day was the dynamo turning down an alberth elis offer from celtic at 6m because they wanted 8m and eventually sending him on to portugal for 1m. that celtic eventually gives up and signs someone else. that you end up playing chicken with yourself and selling lower, not higher.
IV,
“they should then be sold for the little used bench player price.”
That’s not your call.
Forget about what you think Gio should go for.
A player is worth whatever the selling club can get for him.
And BVB won’t take 2 million and a bag of balls for Gio. If he does wind up going to Parma for 12 million then that’s what he was worth to them. And it is something you have zero understanding of because you are not the seller or the buyer. Maybe Parma becomes convinced that Gio is just the kind of player the new young manager can build around. Stupider things have happened. Look no farther than Leeds dropping 30 on Brenden.
Teams make stupid purchases all the time. But you have to give them a chance to make a stupid mistake. Maybe only a fool would give BVB 8 million euros for CC.
But BVB will never know UNLESS THEY ASK.
You are making a lot of assumptions about a situation where you and the public are generally are ignorant.
This is not about what is best for Gio and CC. It is about what is best for BVB.
“i like campbell but if you want full price play him more in the spring or even CWC.” Campbell suffered a what was described as a ligament injury the first week of March before the Lille match and didn’t dress for any of Dortmund’s levels the rest of the season. I wasn’t implying any thing just giving facts.
———————
My opinion is Dortmund rated Cole as an emergency first team piece. He was used when first team players were injured or fatigued. 31 of his 32 first team minutes came during a two week stretch in Oct/Nov when Adeyemi, Reyna, and Duranville were injured. The team was in the heart of CL league phase and playing two games a week. Also in my opinion Sahin rated him higher than Kovac does. Once Gio and Duranville returned from injury Cole stopped playing and even didn’t dress a few weeks. Once Adeyemi returned he only played one time when they threw a bunch of attackers on in added time trying to tie the match.
i do agree that cole may have been rushed up due to a mix of injuries and his youth coach being on the staff at the time.
that’s cute to say except he’s not being priced like someone whose ascendance owes more to happenstance, and who didn’t get out there much to show the promise.
BvB clown show.
Dunno what’s changed with them, but lordy…they won’t play a young guy, won’t give him a boost to loan him out to develop him, won’t even give him a PT platform to put him in the shop window…then play hardball with the transfer fee after letting the guy rot on your bench for a season or three, cratering any number of deals you could have had with him.
Give Chelsea its due, they sign 438 guys every year, but then they at least loan them out. This definitely speaks to a certain mentality at the front office, and one young players everywhere should probably take into account.
Quozzel,
You’re spot on…Dortmund has become a clown show.
The main reason is the change in Sporting Director, with Michael Zorc leaving in 2022 and Sebastian Kehl replacing him. Like Zorc, Kehl spent a lot of his playing years with Dortmund, so he is familiar with the business model, the environment, and sporting approach, but Dortmund has regressed under his leadership, which is surprising given his familiarity with the aforementioned. Additionally, the change in Sporting Director led to a change in a lot of the front office personnel, including the scouting network, which has impacted the young player pool, as well.
To your point, and on Kehl’s watch, they have not handled the development of their young players very well. Examples include Soumaila Coulibaly, Julien Duranville, Jamie Gittens, and Youssafa Moukoko. In many cases, they have gone with older players ( read: Reus ) which were no longer producing for the team, which in and of itself, is perplexing.
That said, young players, and the global soccer market, as a whole, have long since noticed. Aside from Jobe Bellingham, no other high potential players have joined the club in the last three years. That said, Jobe moving to Dortmund is more based on his last name versus high level potential. Compare that with the five years between 2017-2020 when Dembele, Beelingham, Haaland, Sancho, and Aubemyang, were amongst the Dortmund players, and it is clear that Dortmund is currently not the same platform for young players that it used to be.
This coming season, Dortmund is in for another rough run. Hopefully Reyna and Campbell are able to get out of there, and soon.
i get your point that CFC loans them out where they can at least get played someplace, but they just rotate through loan hell — a new team every season even if the last loan destination kind of worked — while similar pricing games get played regarding some sort of final transfer and a permanent home.
eg gaga has been to eupen and barnsley already.
they obviously don’t rate him any more than miazga before him. but they don’t release them, they milk the full deal. or if you want them the offer is full price and seemingly as though they are a full blooded CFC player, even if you never or barely ever saw the field for the parent.
i can’t completely blame CFC (or dortmund on reyna’s extension) because the player has to play along for the higher paycheck and chasing the transfer fee cut.
Damn. Dortmund has gone from being a really top notch organization- one of my favorite, most dynamic clubs to watch as well as excellent place for young players to develop… to a bit of a sh*tshow in both regards.
let’s be real. they also benched pulisic before his transfer out. and some people took that half seriously as a form indicator. this is why i argue “club form” (as in, are they starting club) is overrated and to look to their per 90 stats.
i want to say they handle development well for us, then falter at the senior level with our guys, but you then have to consider they are getting the pick of our youth crop. campbell was a highly rated icelandic player. pulisic and reyna were prized U17s. so how much is dortmund and how much is they cherry picked our best.
they then seem to want credit for the talent at their disposal even if they don’t find them a way onto the field much. look, i think they are talented and could have been worth that much. but you can see with our own NT that their sitting can be read differently and critically, reducing their transfer value.
In the 18/19 season when Puli began working on his move he was a DNP coaching decision 4 times. He started 17 times. He missed 11 matches due to leg muscle injury. Of those DNPs 3 of 4 came on three days rest from a start (not a bad idea given he missed a 4th of the season with muscle injuries). He just didn’t get benched and certainly played a significantly larger role for Dortmund than Cole or Gio. Pulisic played more in his final season with Dortmund than Gio played the last two seasons combined (almost his last three seasons)
that’s misleading. his last season in b.1, pulisic went from
2306 mins in 27 starts from 32 games,
to
932 mins in 9 starts from 20 games.
dortmund in fact benched him. i watched it happen
people read “form” things into that, but in reality he was so productive per minute he had basically the same numbers as the previous year.
because he managed that miracle, and was a NT mainstay, he earned the big transfer fee. vs the other two.
but i am just saying when dortmund gets bored with you, you will rot. even pulisic will play less than half the time.
IV: he was hurt every few weeks that season. Did Dortmund prioritize some guys who were sticking around? Probably but when he was available he played and mostly started. He just couldn’t start two matches in one week as he had the week before. He’d get injured miss a few weeks. He’d come back get some sub appearances then start a CL match sub in a league match for a few weeks and then get hurt again. Then he’d rehab and start that same process over. pulisic played every minute of the last three matches of the season. He’d had 301 minutes in the last 5 weeks of the season, Gio had 341 all Bundesliga season, Campbell had 19 minutes. Saying those three situations are the same is ridiculous. CP had 4 DNP Coach’s decision. Campbell 12 (after his first initial suiting up) Gio 10. The situations were just completely different.
IV,
“but i am just saying when dortmund gets bored with you, you will rot. even pulisic will play less than half the time.”
This is more of your Bullshit made up narrative.
1. One reason he played “less than half the time” was he was injured and missed 15 games.
2. He was sold to Chelsea halfway through his last season and was loaned back.
3. Sancho , who basically played the same position, was on fire.
Dortmund are at fault for these nonsensical transfer fees. They want 8 million euros for a player that has barely played first team soccer? Cole Campbells transfrmarkt price is around 1.5 million Euros.
They want 10 million Euros for Reyna. His transfrmarkt price is around 6 million euros.
i saw this same phenomenon with asset driven clubs like chelsea. like they have some “star player” price in their head, perhaps a premium for being with that big club, perhaps asking more reflecting player promise, but not discounted back down for the fact they’d benched the guy.
it reminds me of my houston dynamo who for a few years had a bad habit — maybe a PR thing foreshadowing stuff to the fans — where they always seemed to pick a fight with a player about to leave. a red card would be blown out of proportion. they’d criticize the player for some reason. like they were trying to prepare the fans through the press to let go of player x. and then they’d be confused why their asset wasn’t getting the asking price. dude, you just made your player look like a discipline problem.
i like campbell but if you want full price play him more in the spring or even CWC. ditto reyna. if you bury them on the bench expect bench player offers, even if they have more upside promise than that.
both of them feel like deadline deals. dortmund will play chicken and see what they can extract. i don’t think it’s ideal for the players because they miss camp and the first games of the season. it’s not as bad as coming into a relegation team in january but it’s not as friendly as being in camp day 1 to make your case.
and my personal sense is deadline day only gets big money if the player is exceptional and has an auction market for their services bidding them up. these guys can play but if the offer team doesn’t get the price it wants they go on to plan B or C, they don’t wait until the end of august.
-Campbell was hurt in the spring that’s why he didn’t play from March to May.
-I think Dortmund would really like Cole to find a home outside of Germany and that’s why that number is on the high side. However, they’ve sent Knauf and Collins to Frankfurt for rather low fees.
– Currently they only have 3 true wingers and one of those Duranville is recovering from a dislocated shoulder surgery. They have 2 strikers they paid 28 mil and 45 mil for but only use one striker so Beier has been playing as a wing. They apparently are signing another striker Silva from Wolves for 25 million.
-If they can get the Chukwuemeka deal done with Chelsea maybe that frees up Campbell as they’ll have another wing. I’m not sure the obsession with Chukwuemeka he’s never had more than 2g and 1a in a season (65 first team app for Villa, Chelsea, BvB 3g 2a?????). I’m not sure why they like Duranville so much either he’s always hurt and he has 1g in three seasons against a 4th division side in the Pokal.
-Maybe the front office doesn’t agree with Kovac’s evaluation and are trying to keep Cole around. If they hold on to him and send him to U20 WC he’s going to stand out and perhaps earn a higher fee or at least the 8 million.
2tone: transfermkt is often a little off on young players. Aaronson was listed at 25 and went to Leeds for 30. Musah was 18 went for 21. Weah went for 3 mil less to Juve. Age, time left on their contract, market interest all affect the final price that transfermarkt isn’t always able to factor in.
From Transfermarkt
“In general, the Transfermarkt market values are not to be equated with transfer fees. The goal is not to predict a price but an expected value of a player in a free market.” Aka it’s a fun tool for discussion purposes.
This u 20 WC is going to be a watered down player pool for most teams. Club teams don’t have to release for youth tournaments. With it being held in October its fair to say many clubs will probably not release the better national team players.
2tone: U20 WC is always watered down even the French and English teams that won recently weren’t all their top prospects. Italy didn’t have Wilfred Gnonto in the final two years ago he was playing for Leeds.
——————————
If BvB doesn’t sell Cole this window and Kovac isn’t playing him because Adeyemi, Duranville, Beier, Chukwuemeka, and Brandt are ahead of him they’ll release him. They don’t care about Dortmund II in the 4th Division. It’s their only chance to increase Cole’s value if the manager doesn’t play him.
2tone:
(a) dortmund may move cole along, at which point they don’t control his U20 tournament fate
(b) he may have better odds at starting or at least improved minutes elsewhere
(c) if he’s first team i don’t see him being released for a month-long tournament outside the summer
(d) i don’t see a kid being offered around at his price ending up back playing age group ball or II team
i think the US needs to learn if you want to see a player like this it may sometimes involve an early senior call. (and i’ve explained before, you spend the experiment on about 5 or so guys of particular interest, i am not asking for a U20 team to play NT games)