Konstantelias' shock injury appears to have direct consequences at Borussia Dortmund
After his strong debut, Giannis Konstantelias will very likely be unavailable to Borussia Dortmund for longer. That apparently has immediate consequences for another player.
Borussia Dortmund are now unlikely to let the still unhappy Portuguese forward Fabio Silva leave in this transfer window because of the Konstantelias injury. Sporting managing director Lars Ricken hinted as much after the 2-0 opening win over Hamburger SV, when Silva spent 90 minutes rooted to the bench and then trudged off to the dressing room in visible frustration after the final whistle.
Although sporting director Ole Book all but ruled out the 24-year-old leaving, Ricken said of Silva's complicated situation: "That a player is then not 100 per cent happy is part of football. Ultimately, though, we are a team and everyone can play their part. You cannot accuse Fabio of anything at all there. We said weeks ago that no player here should have the feeling that he has to leave the club as quickly as possible."
Silva recently made his disappointment over his reserve role behind the new Greek duo of Konstantelias and Konstantinos Karetsas as well as Serhou Guirassy quite clear and had not ruled out leaving Dortmund after just one season. "I don't know what will happen," he said after the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup against Bayern Munich (1-2), in which he came on for the disappointing Guirassy and scored Dortmund's goal to pull one back.
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"Of course I want to start more games and help the team. I want to be even more important. If I say anything else, I would be lying. I always tell the truth," Silva himself said about his life as a reserve.
Earlier, Sky reported that "clubs from Spain, clubs also from Holland are looking at Fabio Silva intensively". In Spain, Real Betis are allegedly pursuing the attacking player. At the time, Sky put the probability of a Silva departure at 50 per cent.
That is likely to have changed abruptly since Saturday evening. Konstantelias, who produced a strong Bundesliga debut complete with a goal, is suspected of having suffered a cruciate ligament tear.
"We have to talk about something more serious there. We will have the examination on Sunday. But at least it doesn't sound good from what the doctor told me," BVB coach Niko Kovac said, for example. Ricken went a little further: "If we are honest, at the moment we have to assume the worst-case scenario."
At the start of the second half, Konstantelias twisted his knee in an actually harmless challenge. Although he was able to leave the pitch under his own steam after lengthy treatment, the body language and facial expressions of the player and staff already pointed to the worst.
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Marcel Sabitzer, who is much more defensive, came on for Konstantelias instead of Silva. And when Kovac took Karetsas, the second attacking half-space player, off the pitch, he still did not turn to the Portuguese because top talent Samuele Inacio got the nod instead.
Then the 18-year-old endured a genuine nightmare. Just a few minutes after coming on, he was shown a red card after an over-eager challenge on Albert Grönbaek. That means Inacio will be unavailable to BVB for at least two matches, and Silva could suddenly be propelled into the starting line-up.
Still, Silva had virtually never convinced there in his debut season. His best performances for the Black and Yellows came as a super-sub, when his high work rate, commitment and good dynamism allowed him to change the structure of BVB's play after coming on. Ten of Silva's 11 goal involvements so far in Dortmund have come as a substitute.
Now he is likely to get at least two new chances to prove himself, should Kovac continue with his system of Guirassy as the central striker and two half-space players behind him. If he takes those in the absence of the suspended Inacio, the much bigger role he had hoped for at BVB this season could yet await him because of Konstantelias' likely lengthy absence.
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However, Ricken also did not rule out BVB still becoming active in the transfer market in view of Konstantelias' presumed absence for months. "Depending on how serious the injury actually is, we will base our next steps on that. But one thing is certain: we are not planning anything over the next three days," said Ricken.
Another return for Jadon Sancho, who is still without a club, could once again become a serious option in the planning of the BVB bosses.
