Why Up Front Is the Area Dortmund Need to Address Most in the Transfer Window

For perhaps the first time in the past three seasons, Borussia Dortmund have had a good summer transfer window. Robert Lewandowski left last year, Mario Gotze the year before that, but this year's offseason has seen the club hold on to their best players and even add to the roster of talent.

Yet despite the smart acquisitions and and brilliant start to the new season, new manager Thomas Tuchel has overlooked one notable part of his squad: his strike force. 

Under Jurgen Klopp, Dortmund brought in a vast array of midfielders, and the new coach hasn't exactly binned that system, with the acquisition of Gonzalo Castro and Julian Weigl to add to the bloated ranks of midfielders and central or holding players in the middle of the park. 

Similarly, Dortmund now have a fairly adequate defensive line with players such as Erik Durm, Jeremy Dudziak and Matthias Ginter in reserve as well as a new goalkeeper in Roman Burki. Yet nothing has been done over the summer months to fix a potential problem up front. 

In fact, Dortmund only made it worse when they chose to send Ciro Immobile out on loan to Sevilla following an opening season of tantrums and poor form. The Italian striker may not have fit the bill in terms of an ideal forward for Tuchel, but many fans would argue that he's the only genuine replacement within the squad. 

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As things currently stand, Dortmund have just one proven goalscorer in the side: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Yet should the Gabonese forward pick up a lengthy injury, then Tuchel would be forced to seriously shuffle his team and tactics around just to compensate for the striker's absence. 

The one alternative to the former Ligue 1 goalscorer is Adrian Ramos, a striker who made his name scoring goals in the Bundesliga with Hertha Berlin. Yet since his arrival last summer—as part of a three-pronged attempt to replace Lewandowski—he has been something of a disaster. A record of just six goals in 32 games really tells it's own story. 

Aside from the misfiring Ramos, Tuchel would be forced to then convert one of his numerous attacking midfielders into a proper, committed forward, which in turn could jeopardise the form of the midfielder in question. 

Marco Reus is a fantastic goalscorer from the left wing, but there's no way of telling whether he could poach goals in the six-yard box or hold the ball up for his other team-mates like Aubameyang or even Ramos. Similarly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan takes much joy in running from deep at full-backs and central defenders, but when asked to play 20 yards further up the field, his entire perspective on the match is skewed. 

Dortmund may have a midfield that seems to have regained its confidence. Shinji Kagawa, Mkhitaryan and Reus already have five goals between them in just two Bundesliga games, but to ask such players to make up for the lack of a striker simply wouldn't work. And Tuchel probably knows that. 

As such, if Dortmund really want to make sure they've covered all potential disasters that could pop up this season, they may want to take a look at signing another striker this week. Because although their squad looks strong and reinforced in most areas, the single role that leads the line every week is vastly and quite dangerously undermanned. 

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