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The decade between 2010 and 2019 was a successful one for Borussia Dortmund; not only did they win two successive Bundesliga titles in 2010-11 and 2011-12, they also claimed the DFB-Pokal on two occasions, made the Champions League final in 2012-13, and finished as runners-up in the Bundesliga on 4 occasions – cementing themselves as the closest contenders to Bavarian giants Bayern Munich.
Part of their success was down to a series of excellent managers; the first half of the decade saw Jurgen Klopp in control while Thomas Tuchel succeeded him before the excellent Lucien Favre eventually took over in 2018, but a lot of it also had to do with some smart, successful signings.
In chronological order, here are Borussia Dortmund’s 10 best signings of the last decade (2010-2019).
#1 Lukasz Piszczek (2010)
Unlike their domestic rivals Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund traditionally haven’t had the financial muscle to able to simply buy whichever players they like. They’ve had to rely on smart signings often at bargain prices, and none of their signings in the last decade were as big a bargain as Polish defender Lukasz Piszczek, who joined the club on a free transfer in the summer of 2010.
Piszczek had played for Hertha Berlin largely as a central defender, but the 25-year old had never really nailed down a starting berth – making just 68 appearances over his 3 seasons there. When he came to Dortmund, though, Jurgen Klopp converted him into a right-back to almost immediate success.
The Polish international won back-to-back Bundesliga titles at Dortmund in his first two seasons, chipping in with 4 goals and 12 assists across both. Piszczek remains at the club today as a first-team regular; since joining he’s made 324 appearances for Die Schwarzgelben as one of their most consistent players – not bad for a free transfer!
#2 Robert Lewandowski (2010)
Widely considered one of the best strikers of his generation, Poland’s Robert Lewandowski is now persona non grata at the Westfalenstadion thanks to his 2014 move to Bayern Munich, but for 4 seasons prior to that, he was a hero at Dortmund thanks to his incredible goalscoring exploits after making a €4.5m move from Lech Poznan in 2010.
Lewandowski arrived as a prolific goalscorer – 21 goals in 34 games for Poznan in 2009-10 – but despite Dortmund winning the Bundesliga in his first season, his form didn’t truly translate as he scored just 9 goals in 43 games. By 2011-12 however, he became Die Schwarzgelben’s first-choice striker, and scored an incredible 22 league goals in just 30 games, finishing as top scorer as Dortmund won the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal.
From there the Polish hitman continued to bang the goals in, scoring 36 in 2012-13 – including 10 in the Champions League to help Dortmund to the final – and 28 in 2013-14. Along the way, he broke a club record by scoring in 12 consecutive league games and topped the Bundesliga’s scoring charts in 2013-14.
Although Dortmund didn’t receive a transfer fee for him when he moved to Bayern due to his contract expiring, the success he helped bring to the club definitely marks him out as one of their best signings.
#3 Shinji Kagawa (2010 & 2014)
Japan’s Shinji Kagawa was signed by Borussia Dortmund twice during the last decade, and the fact alone that they were able to make a profit of somewhere around £10m from his move to Manchester United would almost qualify him for this list even if he hadn’t been fantastic for them. But of course, the midfielder was fantastic, particularly during his first stint at the club.
Signed for just €350,000 from Cerezo Osaka, Kagawa became an instant fan favourite at the Westfalenstadion in his first season at Dortmund by promising to score a brace in the Revierderby against bitter rivals Schalke 04 – and then pulling the feat off in a 3-1 win. Injuries curtailed the second half of his debut season, but with 8 goals in 18 league games, he did his part in helping Die Schwarzgelben to the Bundesliga title.
In his second season, Kagawa performed even better – scoring 13 goals and providing 8 assists to help Dortmund to a league and cup double. It was these performances that earned him his move to Manchester United for £17m, and after he struggled at Old Trafford, he returned to Dortmund in the summer of 2014 for a cut-price of £6.5m.
The Japanese star would play another 4 seasons at Dortmund – beginning as an ever-present – before falling out of favour once Lucien Favre took over at the club, and he officially moved to Real Zaragoza in 2019.
#4 llkay Gundogan (2011)
German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan joined Borussia Dortmund from 1. FC Nurnberg for a fee of €4m in the summer of 2011, and almost instantly made an impact. He made 36 appearances in all competitions during his first season at the club, scoring 3 goals and making 3 assists, including the winning goal in the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal, setting Die Schwarzgelben up for their league and cup double.
2012-13 then saw him establish himself as not just one of the best midfielders in Germany, but one of the best in Europe too. He made 45 appearances in all competitions, including 12 in the Champions League, as Dortmund made it all the way to the final before falling to domestic rivals Bayern Munich in a match that saw Gundogan score his side’s only goal.
The German international remained at the Westfalenstadion for a further 3 seasons, largely playing as a deep-lying playmaker and making use of his excellent range of passing, before 2016 saw him move to Manchester City for a fee of £20m as Pep Guardiola’s first signing at the club – essentially an acknowledgement of his tremendous talents.
#5 Marco Reus (2012)
Marco Reus was already one of Europe’s most highly-rated young players when he made the move from Borussia Monchengladbach to Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2012 for around €17m, but incredibly, Die Schwarzgelben could’ve had him for nothing had they simply kept hold of him when he was in their youth system. Instead, they’d let him go as a 17-year old and watched him develop into a prolific goalscorer, culminating in him scoring 18 Bundesliga goals in 2011-12.
The German international had a tremendous debut season at his boyhood club, scoring 19 goals across all competitions as Dortmund made it to the final of the Champions League, and then beat that total in the 2013-14 season, scoring an impressive 23 goals in 44 matches.
His excellent form continued until his career was hit by injuries in 2016, but once he returned to full strength in the 2018-19 season – and was joined at Dortmund by his former Monchengladbach coach Lucien Favre – he was named the club’s new captain and ended up hitting 21 goals in 37 games, as well as registering 9 assists.
In the current season, Reus has already scored 9 goals and is arguably Dortmund’s most important player.
#6 Henrikh Mkhitaryan (2013)
Armenian attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan might’ve seen his reputation take somewhat of a kicking due to a poor spell in England with Manchester United and Arsenal, but prior to his move to Borussia Dortmund in 2013, he’d become one of Europe’s deadliest players – scoring 44 goals in 106 appearances across 3 seasons for Shakhtar Donetsk.
That was enough to prompt Die Schwarzgelben to part with €27.5m to bring him to the Westfalenstadion in the summer of 2013, and the Armenian hit the ground running in the Bundesliga, scoring 9 league goals and registering 10 assists in his 31 games. It was under boss Thomas Tuchel in the 2015-16 season that he really peaked, though.
That campaign saw Mkhitaryan score a total of 23 goals – his best return since leaving Ukraine – and also register the most assists in the Bundesliga with a total of 15. Alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marco Reus, the Armenian formed one of Europe’s most deadly attacks.
Unfortunately, it would also be his last season in Germany; the summer of 2016 saw Manchester United pay £30m for him – and sadly, he’s never quite reached the peaks he got to in Dortmund since.
#7 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (2013)
It sounds crazy to imagine it now, but in the 2013-14 season, Borussia Dortmund was home to both Robert Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – both of whom would go onto be recognised as amongst the world’s deadliest strikers. At that stage, Lewandowski was already widely renowned, but his Gabonese teammate had not quite reached those heights despite performing well in France with Saint-Etienne.
21 goals in 45 games for the French side was enough to cause Dortmund to part with somewhere around €13m for the Gabonese striker, and while his first season was relatively successful – he scored 16 goals in all competitions – it was once Lewandowski left in the summer of 2014 that he really took off at the Westfalenstadion.
Aubameyang became the club’s leading striker and would go onto score a total of 141 goals in 213 games for Die Schwarzgelben, using his incredible pace and finishing ability to devastating effect. Before he was sold to Arsenal in January 2018, the Gabon international had helped Dortmund to the DFB-Pokal in 2016-17 – the same season that saw him beat Lewandowski to the Bundesliga’s Golden Boot.
#8 Ousmane Dembele (2016)
Signed from Stade Rennais at the age of just 19, French striker Ousmane Dembele would belong on this list even if he hadn’t been a big hit at Dortmund; Die Schwarzgelben paid just €8m for his services, and after just one season in Germany, sold him onto Spanish giants Barcelona for an insane €105m – with a further €44m in add-ons. It was one of the biggest profits made on a player in football history.
Of course, though, there was a reason why Barca were willing to part with so much money for the speedy Frenchman. He enjoyed a tremendous debut season in the Bundesliga, playing in 49 matches in all competitions and delivering a total of 6 league goals while registering 12 assists, helping Dortmund to win the DFB-Pokal in the process.
By the time 2016-17 ended, Dembele was one of Europe’s most highly-rated young talents; not only was he named the Bundesliga’s Rookie of the Season, but he was also named in the Bundesliga’s Team of the Season too. It’s just a pity his stay at Dortmund was so short-lived.
#9 Jadon Sancho (2017)
Another incredible coup for Dortmund, English teenager Jadon Sancho arrived at the Westfalenstadion in the summer of 2017 after leaving Manchester City’s academy, fearing that playing time for the Premier League giants would simply be impossible. The Bundesliga side paid around £8m for the 17-year old, handing him his first professional deal in the process.
It was expected that Sancho would be a talent for the future, but instead, eyes were opened when he was brought into the first team at Dortmund in October 2017, becoming the first Englishman to play a Bundesliga match for the side in the process. Later in the season, he became a first-team regular, albeit from the substitute’s bench, and ended the campaign with his first professional goal and assists.
Nobody really expected him to kick on in the way he did during his second season at the club, though; the speedy forward played 34 Bundesliga matches, scoring 12 goals and making 14 assists, was named in the league’s Team of the Season, and even became the first player born in the 2000’s to score a Champions League goal.
The current season has seen rumours of the England international moving back to the Premier League, but Dortmund seem determined to keep their man – and with 9 goals and 9 assists thus far, it’s hardly surprising.
#10 Axel Witsel (2018)
One of current Dortmund boss Lucien Favre’s first signings at the Westfalenstadion, Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel has been a fixture in Die Schwarzgelben’s first team since his move from Chinese side Tianjin Quanjian in 2018 for an undisclosed fee – and at the age of 30, he’s finally plying his trade in one of Europe’s top leagues for a genuine Champions League contender.
A versatile player capable of performing as both a holding midfielder and a more attacking-based player, nobody started more Bundesliga and Champions League matches for Dortmund in 2018-19 than the Belgian, highlighting his importance to Favre’s plans. This season that hasn’t really changed either; Witsel has started in 12 of Dortmund’s league matches, with only injury keeping him out of the others.
His debut season in Germany saw him display his skills most notably in his passing range; Witsel was able to register a remarkable pass success rate of 93.1% in domestic competition and 94.6% in Champions League action, and he’s continued on the same path in 2019-20 too – keeping a success rate of 93% in each major competition. Simply put, Dortmund would be in far worse shape without him.
