When Jurgen Klopp took over at Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2008, he was inheriting a squad that had finished 13th in the Bundesliga the season before. With their last Bundesliga win coming in 2002, they hadn't competed in the Champions League since 2002/03 and hadn't participated in European competition since 2003/04.
That 2002 first place finish fell to a Bundesliga third place then sixth place, before successive seventh place finishes were followed by a ninth place finish and then the aforementioned 13th place finish in BVB’s final season pre-Klopp. Struggling financially, Dortmund were a club on the decline, but, as the German has since done at Liverpool, he quickly turned doubters into believers and reversed their fortunes.
Initial improvements in his first two seasons saw Dortmund qualify for the Europa League through league position in 2009/10. They'd then win back-to-back Bundesliga titles, which included a league and cup double in 2011/12, and returned to the Champions League in the process.
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Such success came at a price, however, as elite sides across Europe took notice of their stars and looked to lure them away. Nuri Sahin was the first high-profile exit as he was reluctantly sold to Real Madrid for €10m in 2011. Shinji Kagawa then left the following summer in a £17m switch to Manchester United.
Now the exit door had been swung wide open and despite reaching the Champions League final in 2012/13, where they’d suffer a last-minute loss to Bayern Munich, more would follow as what Klopp was trying to build was ultimately undermined. Bayern would win the Bundesliga that season and have gone on to win it every season since.
Klopp’s heart was ‘broken’ when it emerged in the final weeks of the 2012/13 season that Mario Gotze would be leaving Dortmund for Bayern Munich after they activated his £31.5m release clause. The following year, Robert Lewandowski would join the Bundesliga champions on a free transfer as they tightened their hold on German football at BVB’s expense.
A dismal 2014/15 season followed as Dortmund finished seventh. With such annual exits taking their toll, Klopp decided to leave the club at the end of the campaign after seven years at Signal Iduna Park in favour of a year-long sabbatical, though Liverpool would ultimately tempt him back far sooner than he initially envisaged.
Dortmund ultimately haven't finished lower than fourth since Klopp's exit seven years ago, qualifying for the Champions League in each subsequent season as a result with the German's legacy at least cementing their place back as one of his homeland's leading sides. Yet four runners-up berths in seven years, predominantly by significant margins, is the closest they have come to ending Bayern’s ongoing dominance.
In contrast, Klopp has been able to ‘complete the job’ so to speak at Liverpool, winning every major honour going on offer to him and ending the Reds’ 30-year drought to be crowned champions of England, while also being crowned champions of both Europe and the world. Such success has partly been possible by the German being able to keep hold of his star players, with Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane arguably the only high-profile players to push for Anfield exits during his tenure.
Yet it has been a different story for Dortmund as they remain bridesmaids to Bayern Munich’s bride. Post-Klopp, their reputation as a selling club has only grown.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Mats Hummels, Ilkay Gundogan left for Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Man City respectively in the summer of 2016, with Ousmane Dembele then departing for Barcelona 12 months later. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was sold to Arsenal the following January, with Christian Pulisic agreeing his own big-money switch to the capital with Chelsea the season after that.
Abdou Diallo was sold to Paris Saint-Germain after just one season in the summer of 2019, while Jadon Sancho was belatedly granted a big-money switch to Manchester United last year having been denied in 2020. History then repeated itself regarding Erling Haaland as Man City activated his release clause this summer after he saw efforts to depart blocked last year. For good measure, Pep Guardiola's side also signed Manuel Akanji to bolster their defence.
Banking considerable fees for each of the aforementioned players, Dortmund have at least been able to reinvest sufficiently in their squad year after year to avoid any drop-off. Meanwhile, such figures have also given them more power when it comes to selling players in recent years, ensuring the likes of Sancho and Haaland have only been able to depart on the club’s terms when BVB say so.
Yet, they remain a selling club. While they resisted selling Sancho in 2020 and Haaland in 2021, both got their desired moves 12 months later. One high-profile exit each summer merely briefly delays the inevitable for the next highly-sought after talent.
As a result, history looks almost certain to repeat itself next year regarding a certain Jude Bellingham. Joining Dortmund for an initial £25m in 2020, the 19-year-old has shone in the Bundesliga with his performances prompting the majority of the continent’s most elite clubs to be monitoring his situation.
Repeatedly linked with Liverpool, the England international is believed to be their top transfer target for next year as the Reds look to overhaul their midfield. Meanwhile, it has even been suggested they asked after the midfielder a number of times this summer only to be greeted by a firm rebuttal by Dortmund each time.
For the record, Bellingham sidestepped questions about his future ahead of facing Man City on Wednesday night, insisting he is happy at Dortmund and isn’t thinking about a possible return to England. However, his wording did open up the possibility of a future switch.
"First of all, I'm here to help Borussia Dortmund win the game,” he told reporters . “If I can play well and showcase my talents, it is a bonus. But I'm here to win for Borussia Dortmund and I'm very happy here at the minute and I'm focused on all of the goals we have as a team and I'm not looking past that.
"The club have done loads for me and made me feel very welcome since I first came and gave me the opportunities to develop even further. To look past that and into the future would be disrespectful.
"It's not something I am thinking about, to be honest. It's a massive game against Man City. To even be thinking about something like that would be crazy."
Yet his performance for BVB against Man City, where Bellingham opened the scoring in a 2-1 loss, has only enhanced transfer speculation and heightened the desire of Kopites for their club to seal his signature. While such a prospect is admittedly easier said than done, the evidence would suggest Liverpool will at least look to land the midfielder next year.
As was the case with Sancho and Haaland over the past two summers, it is only a matter of time before Bellingham leaves Dortmund. While they are calling the shots and were under no pressure to sell this summer, having already waved off the Norwegian, it would take a complete u-turn in the club’s transfer policy to retain his services now.
Admittedly, Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl admitted earlier this week the club would like to change such a policy to keep the likes of Bellingham, but it does feel like that has perhaps come too little, too late given the weight of interest in his services.
"Jude is very happy at the club, he is very committed to us,” Kehl told BT Sport ahead of their Champions League clash with Man City. “Hopefully he can stay over next season and for a long time.
“Then we come back to the beginning of the interview, we try to keep our best players, Jude is one of those and we try to keep them for as long as possible. But we will see what will happen but not at the moment.
"We would like to change the policy but we are in the market. We would like to keep our best players longer than the last few years - it’s impossible (to keep them sometimes).
“We want to play for titles and that’s the most important thing for players to be at a club who can improve but in the end money is another aspect and England pays a lot more than Germany. We have to renew our philosophy every year."
If they had dug their heels in in such a way a decade ago, perhaps they would have retained Klopp’s services for longer too and been able to hold off the challenge of Bayern Munich. Alas, they made their choice. While they remain one of Germany’s leading clubs as a result, such a philosophy has equally left them the underdog and cost them that top crown, though they would perhaps argue they were always fighting a losing battle.
But where Dortmund stuck, Liverpool chose to twist and if they are successful in efforts to sign Bellingham, it will be their biggest move yet. And having repeatedly been left frustrated by the Bundesliga outfit’s selling stance during his own tenure, Klopp could now belatedly be about to benefit.
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