Bayern Munich: Three Dortmund players to consider for Thomas Tuchel
By Tamhas Woods
The Klassiker rivalry shared by Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund is unique in one major way, in that Dortmund transfers to Bayern (or vice-versa) are not particularly unusual. Since July 2004, no less than ten players have made such a defection at the senior level, with each team being the recipient five times apiece.
Earlier this summer, Raphael Guerreiro came to Bayern on a free transfer – the first ‘gratis’ switch from yellow to red since Robert Lewandowski in 2014.
To say the Lewandowski move worked out well would obviously be an understatement, with the record-breaking Polish striker netting 344 goals (including 86 matchwinners) over eight years of service that brought a personal win-rate of 86.4% from all goalscoring games.
But you would have to go back to 2016, and the arrival of Mats Hummels, to find the last time Dortmund accepted cold, hard cash from Bayern for one of their own.
Ending that status quo is certainly tempting when considering how close Bayern came to losing their crown to ‘Der BVB’ in May. So if using the estimated values currently shown on Transfermarkt, what is the likelihood, and cost-effectiveness, of these key names behind Dortmund’s 2022/23 near-miss in the title race coming to the champions?