BVB's Perfect Start: Ricken's Jab at Bayern and Wagner's Confession
Borussia Dortmund have started the season perfectly. No dropped points, no early wobble – and, for once, Bayern Munich are the ones glancing up the table.
Lars Ricken is not turning that into a title declaration. But he is happy to twist the knife.
Ricken enjoys the view above Bayern
The Borussia Dortmund sporting managing director underlined to Bild that the relationship with Bayern remains “very respectful”. Then he reminded everyone of the recent past.
“In recent years we have not given Bayern the feeling that a declaration of intent had to go out to them either,” the 50-year-old said.
This time, though, the standings offer him a small luxury. Dortmund are perfect; Bayern trail by two points. Ricken did not pretend he was indifferent.
“I do not want to conceal the fact that I hope they are a little annoyed,” he admitted.
He knows exactly what the table looks like and what it means in Munich. “We know the table and they are currently not where they think they belong. If that feeling prevails, I would be pleased.”
No chest-thumping, no big slogans. Just a calculated nudge in Bayern’s direction, backed by results.
Elversberg’s Wagner: a Bundesliga coach with a BVB scarf at heart
While Dortmund are piling up wins, one of the more unlikely Bundesliga stories has a black-and-yellow thread running through it.
SV Elversberg head coach Vincent Wagner is making waves with the newcomers – but emotionally, he has been anchored in Dortmund for almost 30 years.
“Now I have to watch what I say,” he told Bild, before dropping the line every BVB supporter will recognise. “I have been a Borussia Dortmund fan since the 1995/1996 season.”
A childhood allegiance is one thing. Coaching them is another. Wagner is not daydreaming about the Südtribüne just yet.
“At the moment I still lack the imagination to one day be standing there on the touchline. I am happy at SV Elversberg and glad that I am allowed to be a Bundesliga coach – because I love my job,” he explained.
His footballing blueprint pulls from the very top shelf. Wagner wants his teams to play in a “holistic” way, blending “the intensity and passion of Klopp” with “the tactical understanding and meticulousness of Pep Guardiola.”
It is an ambitious mix. And it starts, unmistakably, with a coach who grew up on BVB.
Kaba’s long road back
Behind the first team’s perfect start, Dortmund’s academy continues to tick over – and on the weekend, it delivered a quiet but important moment.
Seventeen-year-old midfield talent Mussa Kaba finally returned after half a year out. The youngster started for the reserves in a 3-2 win over Rödinghausen and played the first 45 minutes.
He has been sidelined since March, slowed by physical growth spurts and the muscle problems that came with them. Dortmund opted for a cautious, step-by-step plan. No shortcuts.
Now, alongside Enzo Duarte – also recently back from injury – Kaba is collecting the minutes he has been missing with the U23s.
Coach Daniel Rios made the priorities clear: “Now it is about Mussa and Enzo getting minutes and getting into rhythm. There is always coordination with the professional department.”
No hype, no rush. Just the slow rebuild of a body that Dortmund hope will one day anchor their midfield.
Why Sancho stayed a memory, not a signing
Jadon Sancho’s name has hovered around Dortmund all summer, a familiar ghost linked with a second return. This time, the club said no.
Lars Ricken has now explained why.
“To a certain extent it was important to me to bring in new faces, new stories, new figures for identification,” he told Bild.
Sancho would have brought star power and headlines. That was exactly the problem. For a player of his calibre, a back-up role would have been almost impossible to justify – inside the dressing room or outside it.
“Jadon has that kind of force,” Ricken said. Even with limited minutes, Sancho’s name would have swallowed the narrative. “Jadon would be our only topic,” he feared.
And that domino effect would not have stopped there.
“As a consequence, you would then have to look: do you sell a Fabio Silva?” Ricken asked. Planned signings would have been squeezed too: “Can you then only bring in Karetsas and not Konstantelias?”
On top of that, the pathway for their own youngsters would have narrowed. Ricken namechecked two of them: “We have young players like Inacio or Mathis Albert. Do you then have to sell or loan them out?”
Dortmund chose the opposite. They protected the squad architecture, the new arrivals, and the academy line. No Sancho, no nostalgia, no distraction.
“These are decisions we make,” Ricken concluded.
BVB sit top, Bayern are chasing, and Dortmund’s sporting boss is backing new faces over old heroes. If this start is more than a late-summer surge, the real test is coming: can this version of Dortmund keep Bayern looking up when the pressure really hits?
