Bellingham, Zorc’s last service

Bellingham’s arrival in Germany in the summer of 2020 bears his stamp. The then ‘architect’ of Dortmund traveled to Birmingham to snatch their pretty boy in a transfer that left its mark, because as a sign of generosity for the significance that the English left at St Andrew’s Stadium, Birmingham decided to retire the number ’22’ when Jude was barely 16 years old. A figure close to 8 million were to blame for the Stourbridge abandoning the islands and allowing the ‘blues‘ To be able to clean up the entity’s coffers thanks to said sale. One last case that marvelously demonstrates the Zorc’s hallmark, that of being a ‘headhunter’. After 17 years at the club, the German decided to put an end to his career in Dortmund last season and handed over the reins to another club legend, Sebastien Kehl. A legacy that is not forgotten at Signal Induna Park with Bellingham as Zorc’s last great legacy.

The art of signing well and cheaply

With Zorc at the controls, Borussia became a money-making machine. Such was the dimension of his work that, without counting Bellingham, the ten most expensive sales of the yellow entity were under his mandate. In total, an income of 585.75 million euros for the coffers of Signal Induna Park. With the British, the sale is the second largest in the history of Dortmund. In his resume of departures, some footballers who remained eternal promises such as Jadon Sancho or Christian Pulisic and others who never returned to the level shown in Germany such as Mats Hummels or Abdou Diallo. But there are other figures in that long list who have already established themselves in the elite, becoming world-class players and are classified as the two biggest sales of the club, with permission and without counting Jude. are the case of Erling Haaland and Ousmane Dembele.

In the case of the first, the now Manchester City striker is breaking all the records that have been and will be in the Premier League, but his career meant a before and after in his time in Germany. Once again with Zorc as the mastermind of the operation, the German went ahead of Juventus and Manchester United to sign a Norwegian who was beginning to destroy goals in Austria. For 21 million, Dortmund snatched RB Salzburg from a cyborg that He moved to the Etihad two courses later, where he has become inhuman. Similar situation occurred with Gundogan. The German midfielder arrived in Dortmund in 2011, from Nuremberg for 5.5 million and, five seasons later, the ‘citizen‘ they disbursed 27 ‘kilos’ in Signal Induna Park.

Borussia’s other great business was Dembélé. In the 2016-17 campaign, the Germans traveled to France, specifically to Rennes, where at a rate of 15 million they took over the services of the then 19-year-old French winger. Despite the interest of big European clubs such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Barcelona, ​​Dortmund led by Zorc went ahead and took over his services. A season later, the Barça club threw the house out the window and signed Vernon’s for 140 million, making it the third most expensive sale in football history, only behind those of Neymar and Mbappé to PSG. Dream sale in Germany.

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang was the other great millionaire exit from Signal Induna Park. The Gabonese striker arrived in the summer of 2013 from Saint-Étienne with a difficult ballot. The one of Laval landed in the center of Europe like the substitute of a Robert Lewandowski that went away to the eternal rival, the Bayern of Munich. Four and a half seasons later, Aubameyang managed to make the Polish striker forget. 141 goals in 213 games with the yellow elastic were enough for Arsenal to deposit almost 64 million in January 2018. In total, close to 50 ‘kilos’ of benefit. Other of the names with which Dortmund has managed to make money with Zorc at the helm are Sokratis (20 million), Kagawa (16) or Sahin (10). An institution with an exemplary project with which they will once again try to govern in the Bundesliga, first without Zorc and now also without Bellingham.

The 10 most expensive sales in Dortmund history