Transfer Centre

Hans-Joachim Watzke: 'Borussia Dortmund will fight for star players'

By Matt Law, Football Editor | 23 November 2015

Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke insists that his team now have the financial capabilities to fight off interest in their star players.

Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has insisted that his team will "fight tooth and nail" to keep their star players at the German club.

The likes of Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski have left Dortmund in recent years to seek pastures new, while the futures of Mats Hummels, Ilkay Gundogan, Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are currently firmly in the spotlight.

Watzke, however, has claimed that his club now have the financial capabilities to fight off interest in their best players ahead of the January transfer window.

"We will fight tooth and nail for every single star player of our club. And we are definitely able to compete financially. Some players of our club were out to leave us, however in the end all of them stayed at our club!" he told Kicker.

"We have very much to offer as a club and we have our eyes fully on the progress of our players' careers. These days we are able to offer double what we were able to offer in wages back in 2011 when we won Bundesliga."

Aubameyang has been strongly linked with a move to Chelsea in recent days after starting the season with 23 goals in 21 appearances.