The Victors

Hector not part of the plan, so the right back is hopefully headed to Dortmund. Not sure if it ends up being a loan and purchase next summer or purchase now. Weird summer for Dortmund. They got the smaller deals done early and adding Gadou to the defense looks like a strong move as the young French defender looks solid so far while Lerma had a good World Cup for Equador and should help add depth with the Dortmund midfield. Prates is a young Brazilian left back likely to figure in fullback somewhere down the line. Karetsas from PSV looks to be a fantastic pickup as a replacement for Brandt as he was very good in the tune up against Arsenal. El Mala fell through, but BVB jumped on buying Konstanelias, a Greek winger who has been the best young player to break through PAOK in the past few decades, and Joey Veerman =a veteran Dutch attacking midfielder that is purportedly a high energy guy. The Konstanelias deal was a tough one, as ultras took over the PAOK President's office demanding he quash the deal and others were waiting for the player at the Dortmund airport, attempting to convince him not to sign with Dortmund. The locals believe he is one of the two best players ever produced at PAOK and set out to try and quash the deal. Many of the German media felt the two players (Konstanelias and Veerman) for 52 million euros rather than just El Mala for 53 or 54 million was a better deal for Dortmund and were less risky additions for that money, while it could come back to haunt them if Leipzig signs El Mala with the 120 million they got for Diomande (60 mill of it for El Mala is a bold move).