Bitter certainty: Borussia Dortmund announce diagnosis for Giannis Konstantelias
Borussia Dortmund’s new signing Giannis Konstantelias suffered a serious injury on his Bundesliga debut. On Sunday, Borussia Dortmund announced the exact diagnosis.
The 23-year-old Greek, who only recently joined from PAOK Saloniki for €26 million, suffered a cruciate ligament tear in the 2-0 opening win over Hamburger SV on Bundesliga matchday one and will now be unavailable to BVB for several months.
On their official account on X, the Bundesliga runners-up wrote: "The entire BVB family is behind you, Giannis! You will come back stronger!"
Konstantelias, who marked a strong Bundesliga debut with a goal, twisted his knee in what initially looked like a harmless challenge early in the second half. He managed to leave the pitch under his own steam after lengthy treatment, but the body language and facial expressions of both the player and staff already pointed to bad news.
How will BVB replace Giannis Konstantelias?
Dortmund now face one obvious question: how do they replace Konstantelias? What is clear is that BVB's decision-makers will be working flat out in the few remaining days before the summer transfer window shuts on Tuesday (1 September) at 8pm.
Sport managing director Lars Ricken also hinted at that on Saturday evening: "Depending on how serious the injury actually is, we will then shape our next steps accordingly. But one thing is certain: over the next three days, we are not ruling anything out."
One internal solution could be the currently very unhappy Fabio Silva, who has recently been repeatedly linked with a swift departure after just one season in Dortmund. But Konstantelias' injury is likely to have put an end to that.
Meanwhile, another return for Jadon Sancho, who is still without a club, could again become a serious option in the thinking of the BVB bosses. The Englishman would be a natural solution. He is a similar type of player to Konstantelias and, like him and Konstantinos Karetsas, has the quality to create dynamism from a standing start.
BVB: Jadon Sancho would be available on a free transfer
Speculation over Sancho returning to BVB again has not gone away in recent weeks and months, even if it died down after the arrivals of Karetsas and Konstantelias.
At Dortmund, Sancho enjoyed the best spell of his career so far. After his contract expired at Manchester United, the now 26-year-old remains without a new club and would be available on a free transfer.
That would make it a low-risk move, although Sancho would have to accept a significant pay cut for a third spell at Borussia. There is also the sporting question of whether the former super talent can ever reach his top level again. His recent loan spells at Chelsea FC and Aston Villa were, as is well known, largely disappointing.
