It’s very unfamiliar territory for Borussia Dortmund right now, as they’re outside the top four and not contending for the Bundesliga title right now. Across all competitions, they have won just three of their last eight, and the poor run of form cost manager Lucien Favre his job.
Sitting in fifth place and eight points behind the usual suspects and seemingly always top of the table Bayern Munich, Dortmund are at a crossroads right now. They have just one win in their last five Bundesliga matches, and a new direction is needed.
Edin Terzic is tasked with the managerial gig in the interim, and he’ll do a fine job on an interim basis, but as BVB look to the future, the man most deserving of the next opportunity is Jesse Marsch.
Not only is the American the perfect fit, but the timing is just right too. He’s guided RB Salzburg to the top of the Austrian Bundesliga this season, and his Champions League experience in charge of this side would serve him well with the Black and Yellow.
Last season saw Jesse Marsch win the double during his first season at the club. He also knows the German top flight well from the two years he served as an assistant at RB Leipzig. He would also help develop and facilitate the team’s superstar scoring sensation, Erling Haaland, to the next level.
Having managed the Norwegian wonderkid at Salzburg, he fully understands why the youngster is considered, by some, the best pure scorer of the game.
Jesse Marsch has connections to Borussia Dortmund as well, and he might just be the best potential for mentor for another of the side’s emerging superstars- his fellow American Gio Reyna.
A second generation footballer, Reyna is coming into his own right now, having just claimed the USA Male Footballer of the Year Award, having just beaten out two-time winner and former Dortmund man Christian Pulisic.
Elsewhere Jadon Sancho, endlessly linked with a move to Manchester United, finally scored again in German Cup competition. He seems to have lost his swagger for the time being, but once he gets it back, look out Bundesliga!
Dortund have a ton of young talent right now, but you know the BVB way- buy low and then sell high to a bigger club. They need someone who can put it all together, make it all coalesce, before the young guns like Haaland, Reyna, Sancho and others move on.
This practice, which we’ve seem over and over (Pulisic is one such example), results in a nice profit for the club, but they haven’t been able to get over the hump lately against Bayern.
Now they’re even further behind the reigning European champions, but injecting some fresh blood might do the trick.
The 47-year-old Racine, WI native, who graduated from Princeton and played for D.C. United, Chicago Fire and Chivas USA during his professional career is the right man for the right place at the right time.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.