Why Borussia Dortmund Have Earned the Benefit of the Doubt on Transfer Market

With less than two weeks to go until the January transfer window slams shut on February 1, there's a certain level of unease among some Borussia Dortmund supporters.

Rarely does a day go by without a report linking a new name with the Black and Yellows, but, as of this writing, the club have yet to pull the trigger and make a signing. And with each of those days passing, the unease intensifies.

That feeling might be somewhat understandable, but it's unfounded nonetheless: If anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt on the transfer market, it's Borussia Dortmund's decision-makers.

Just look at the squad that impressed during the first half of the season under first-year head coach Thomas Tuchel: Of the 23 players who appeared in a competitive game, Dortmund bought all but three—Marcel Schmelzer, Pascal Stenzel and Jonas Hofmann came to the club's under-19 and second teams as teenagers, respectively.

BVB brought in most of these 23 players for relatively little money under the triumvirate of chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke, sporting director Michael Zorc and former head coach Jurgen Klopp, who were equal partners when it came to transfer decisions, although Zorc was and is ultimately responsible.

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That doesn't mean, however, that the transfer business before the current campaign, when Tuchel replaced Klopp, wasn't successful.

As Ross Dunbar wrote for Fox Soccer, "Zorc's superb dealings last summer have perhaps constructed the spine of the club's team for several more years."

In that summer of 2015, the Black and Yellows unearthed a gem in Julian Weigl, whom they brought in for €2.5 million, signed a long-term No. 1 in Roman Burki for €3,5 and added Gonzalo Castro, a Swiss army knife of a player, for €11 million (all per Transfermarkt.de, link in German).

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Sure, there've been some transfers that didn't work out at all, with the most notable flop in recent years being the signing of Ciro Immobile in 2014—the striker's return to Torino means he's on his third team since the start of the current season on July 1 after first joining FC Sevilla on loan—but that's something every club has to deal with from time to time.

Something that has probably aided the tension among the Black and Yellows' fans is the fact that the club officials have sent mixed signals—at least one could interpret some statements as such.

Tuchel has been the most forward, telling the media multiple times that he thinks additions are an absolute necessity after the club let two players go earlier in January: Hofmann and Manchester United loanee Adnan Januzaj.

He told local paper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung after the friendly against Sparta Prague on Tuesday (h/t Stephan Uersfeld of ESPN FC): "We've lost two players and I think that we need to keep up the quality, also because of the training quality. If we want to achieve our goals, we need competition."

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Watzke and Zorc have been less forthcoming, although Zorc did tell German broadcaster Sport1 before Tuesday's game that the club are still searching for a quality addition to the squad.

According to German magazine Kicker's Thursday edition, however, the 53-year-old club legend doesn't want to commit to any transfers.

If Dortmund indeed decide to not make a signing in the coming days, they'll have to make do with "21 outfield players including the two youngsters Felix Passlack and Christian Pulisic as well as Nuri Sahin, Moritz Leitner and Erik Durm, who have not featured in the Bundesliga this term," as Uersfeld noted.

As we explored in this earlier piece, that would be a dangerous proposition. Because of that, we'd expect the Black and Yellows to make a signing before the window closes, but the supporters will likely need to be patient.

They'd be well advised to relax and look at the body of work BVB's decision-makers have put together over the years. When it comes to the transfer market, they've been right far more often than wrong.

Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for Yellowwallpod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.