INTERVIEW: Carsten Cramer relaxed about Dortmund's transfer practices despite failing to sign Köln's Said El Mala
| Photo: Leonhard Simon/Getty Images. |
MÜNCHEN (Bulinews): In Munich last weekend, Borussia Dortmund CEO Carsten Cramer stated the Westphalian club have not blown their cover after last summer’s prolonged transfer saga for 1.FC Köln star Said El Mala.
“From our perspective, we made a huge offer to them [Köln for El Mala] which maybe five years ago we wouldn’t have paid that much for a player,” Cramer explained at a round table event for which Bulinews.com was present.
“Numbers [in transfer fees] are changing at the moment, but we won’t pay ridiculous or stupid [prices] because we want to be a solid and serious club. No financial risks will be taken for successes.
The 20-year-old was heavily linked with BVB who, according to Sky Germany and BILD, offered fees of up to €50million but were rejected. In response to this, Cramer has no fears that the club’s historically cost-effective transfer methods have been exposed.
“We never mentioned the fee [for Said El Mala] publicly, so that [€50 million offer] is still a rumour. We just said we were interested to spend a huge amount of money,” he pointed out, casting doubt over their actual offer to the Cathedral City outfit.
“It can happen that [clubs will know Dortmund can now pay more for players] but that will not influence our way of negotiating. Everyone knows we are a powerful club, and we are a financially very healthy football club.
“We don’t need to hide our strengths. If we have an opportunity to spend money on a talented player which might sound a bit too expensive, if we are convinced, we might do it. I’m not concerned about [clubs knowing we can pay more],” he added.
Late last August, Köln would agree a contract extension with their talisman El Mala until June 2031. Could Dortmund plan another approach in the future? Cramer was quick to suppress the idea and avoid further rumours developing.
“We are happy with our squad; everyone is fully convinced with it. We decided to stop our negotiations with Köln because we had good ideas in mind and not only going down the El Mala route.
“It showed everyone that Dortmund is interested to make some special signings. What we have done with [Giannis] Konstantelias, [Kostas] Karetsas and [Joey] Veerman was really progressive from our perspective.
“We spent a huge amount of money for them, and don’t forget we have [Joane] Gadou who we hired very early from Salzburg. He may be cheap given his potential, but he cost money as well.
“No decision is done regarding how we proceed in the next transfer windows. We watch the market and there is no further comment regarding any player including El Mala, however his quality still exists,” Dortmund’s CEO concluded.
