Having been targeted in the crosshairs in the firing line not only on one occasion this season, Lucien Favre is the next manager likelhy to be given the boot in the European circuit. With Borussia Dortmund already unceremoniously shown the exit out of DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League, the Bundesliga’s Black and Yellows are still in the title race lying four points behind league leaders Bayern Munich.
SportBILD has it that the Borussia Dortmund top brass are harbouring doubts about Favre’s ability to lead the team to titles and it is this failure to win the Bundesliga title at the end of the season that could end his tenure at the club.
The 62-year-old Borussia Dortmund head coach, incumbent since 2018, has been praiseworthy for having done a good job of getting the club back into serious contention for the League title despite having received constant criticism for the team’s inconsistency, glaring lapses in defense and also for his lack of aggression in his tactics.
Already SportBILD have been forthcoming this juncture with the naming of four possible candidates to take over from Favre in the event that he does get the sack although none of them are considered the perfect replacement options for various reasons.
First on the list of viable replacements is current Ajax boss, Erik ten Hag, although the Dortmund bosses are said to have doubts regarding the soundness of his tactical compatibility vis-a-vis the squad. Next in line is Niko Kovac, the former former Bayern Munich head coach whose ability is also in question by the Dortmund top brass.
Not surprisingly, Mauricio Pochettino is also on the list of availables after being shown the door by Tottenham Hotspur last year with the only major glitch and drawback being reported by SportBILD as his salary demands, not to mention his lack of fluency with the German language being a realistic no-no.
Julian Nagelsmann is the only other viable option so far that the Dortmund bosses favour but the exit clause in his RB Leipzig contract which runs until 2023 is a snag that poses a tricky problem.