Serhou Guirassy's Future at Borussia Dortmund: A Summer Decision
Serhou Guirassy is edging towards the exit at Borussia Dortmund. Not because of a broken relationship, not because of a lack of goals, but because of football.
According to Sky Sport, the 30-year-old has made up his mind: he wants to leave BVB this summer. The issue is not Niko Kovac the man – the pair are said to get on well – but Niko Kovac the coach and the way his team plays. At this stage of his career, Guirassy is pushing for a new challenge, a different stage, a different script.
Guirassy’s dilemma: goals, but no trigger
Since arriving from VfB Stuttgart in 2024, Guirassy has delivered what strikers are paid to deliver. Twenty-one goals and six assists in 45 games for Dortmund is a serious return, especially in a side still searching for its identity under a new regime.
On paper, he should be one of the most straightforward deals of the summer. A proven scorer, in his prime, with a €40 million release clause. Seven heavyweight clubs, including Real Madrid and Manchester City, could simply press the button and be done with it.
None of them has.
Instead, the concrete interest is coming from a tier just below that galactic bracket. AC Milan, Fenerbahce and Tottenham Hotspur are all circling, but they cannot simply activate the clause and walk away. They need to negotiate with Dortmund, because Guirassy is tied down until 2028. Any move will be a proper transfer saga, not a quick raid.
Dortmund fight to keep their No. 9
Inside the club, nobody is treating him as expendable. Quite the opposite.
The hierarchy at BVB still hopes to change his mind. They know what they have: a forward who scores, links play and carries a presence that is not easily replaced. They also know what the market looks like. Finding someone of similar quality would cost heavily, in fees and in time.
Sporting director Ole Book has already sat down with Guirassy. Lars Ricken and Kovac are expected to join the next round of talks, a full-court press to sell him on the project and the promise of what Dortmund can still become with him at the heart of it.
The question is whether tactical conviction can outweigh a player’s instinct that his path lies elsewhere.
Ramaj benched, future blurred
While Guirassy weighs his options, another Dortmund asset is wrestling with uncertainty of a different kind.
Until last weekend, Diant Ramaj was 1. FC Heidenheim’s undisputed No. 1. Then came Cologne away, a crucial game in the relegation fight – and a surprise. Frank Feller, not the BVB loanee, walked out in goal for a match Heidenheim went on to win 3-1.
Frank Schmidt did not hide the reasoning. Feller, he explained before kick-off, had started pre-season as the likely first-choice before a long injury lay-off. His level in recent training sessions had been “top-class”, and with Heidenheim desperate for points on the road, Schmidt chose to reward that form and, as he put it, perhaps tap into a bit of luck as well.
Ramaj saw it coming. He admitted he had “expected” the decision and pointed to the brutal honesty inside Schmidt’s dressing room. No sugar-coating, no vague promises, no players left guessing. If something is “rubbish”, Schmidt tells them. That bluntness, he argued, underpins their team spirit – and after the win in Cologne, their survival hopes are still alive.
For Ramaj, the immediate future is clear enough. He is likely to watch Saturday’s season finale against Mainz 05 from the bench, then head back to Dortmund when his loan expires in the summer. BVB only brought him in from Ajax Amsterdam in February 2025 and tied him down until 2029.
The long-term picture is far less clear. WAZ has reported that Dortmund, runners-up in the Bundesliga, are open to selling the 24-year-old. Another BVB player in limbo, another decision that could reshape a career.
Youth on the brink of silverware
While the first team wrestles with contracts and crossroads, Borussia Dortmund’s next generation is chasing a trophy.
On Tuesday night at 8 pm, a combined U19/U23 side will walk into a Premier League International Cup final against a Real Madrid selection, with a chance to bring home silverware after a campaign that has stretched over months.
The competition pairs England’s top U21 teams with elite youth sides from across Europe. Dortmund have treated it seriously – and it shows. They cut through the group stage by beating Leeds United, West Ham United and AFC Sunderland, progressing despite a defeat to Manchester United. In the knockouts, they edged past Everton in the quarter-finals and then saw off Real Sociedad at the end of April to book their place in the final.
Felix Hirschnagl, coach of the U19s, knows what awaits. Real, he said, are a “typical Spanish side”: heavy on the ball, dominant in possession, aggressive in the press. Daniel Rios, in charge of the U23s, made one thing clear – Dortmund will not rip up their blueprint on the eve of a final. No sudden shift into a deep block, no fear-driven conservatism. They believe their style, with and without the ball, gives them the best chance to beat a strong opponent.
The squad reflects that ambition. Filippo Mane, Almugera Kabar and 16-year-old Mathis Albert are all in the group. Albert, who already tasted the Bundesliga in the 4-0 win over Freiburg in April, stands as the clearest symbol of the pathway Dortmund are trying to protect: academy to first team, without detours.
Guirassy’s decision, Ramaj’s fate, a youth final against Real Madrid – three very different stories, all converging on the same club. The choices Dortmund make now will echo through their dressing rooms for years.
