Sule, Schlotterbeck, Adeyemi and Ozcan. These first-team players were signed last year before July 3rd. But this season, Borussia Dortmund has started its transfer window very slowly. At the same time this season, they have only brought in a second replacement. After Ramy Benseabaini, who switched from Monchengladbach to Dortmund as a free agent as a replacement for Raphael Guerreiro, who signed for rivals Bayern for free, the Millionaires have brought in their only second recruit – Felix Nmecha. The young midfielder signed a five-year deal worth around 32 million euros today and will replace Jude Bellingham, who signed for Real Madrid.Borussia Dortmund have completed the signing of Felix Nmecha from VfL Wolfsburg on a deal until 2028 🤝 pic.twitter.com/23Qtj4D8i3— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) July 3, 2023 Nmecha came to Wolfsburg from Manchester City but only made a contribution last season, as he was involved in nine goals in 30 games (3 goals/6 assists).”Borussia Dortmund is a great club that I’ve followed since I was a child. I’m happy to be part of it now and to help the team achieve their goals in the Bundesliga, DFB Cup and Champions League. I hope the fans will give me the chance to get to know myself” said the player upon signing.Felix Nmecha:”A few things were out of context. Yes I am Christian of course but I love all people, I don’t discriminate. I just hope the fans will give me a chance to get to know me and hopefully see that I’m a great person for them.”#BVB pic.twitter.com/wf7pxUl8gN— BVB Newsblog (@bvbnewsblog) July 3, 2023 There were two reasons for stalling with this transfer. The first one was the money (as always) since everybody knew that Borussia got 100 million from Real, but BVB wanted to use that money for a number of players. Even thou his initial value is close to 15 million, Wolfsburg were thinking more of 25 million as a starting point. It ended up being 32 million. The second reason is a bit strange. A secret meeting was arranged between the club and the player a week or so before the deal was done. The reason – LGBT rights.Sancho and Dortmund Back together? There is a chance, but…While Nmecha accepted all personal terms and the clubs were already negotiating the fees, somebody discovered the player’s alleged homophobic and transphobic statements on Instagram. It was immediately seen as incompatible with BVB’s ‘code of values for tolerance and diversity’ by the fans, and he was summoned to the office to explain himself. Nmecha is a Christian who apparently shared a video from the “Reformed by Christ” portal in June, which is intended to draw attention to tolerance and the rights of the LGBTQ community. The attitude there: homosexual people are assigned to the devil. It caused so much stir near the end of the negotiations that Borussia’s CEO thought it was necessary to defend the player in a statement which was quoted in the initial news that a player signed with the club.Bundesliga fixtures announced, the first Klassiker scheduled for NovemberUsually, the news in all the clubs in the world usually contains information about the contract length and has the director’s and player’s statements, but with Nmecha, the club also included a part in which Watzke is defending the player who just signed.”We are aware that the forthcoming transfer has also caused criticism in the past few days due to two Internet postings that Felix shared. It was therefore important to us to talk intensively with the player about his beliefs and values. Felix is very young, his religion is deeply rooted in him and – like all of us – he is certainly not perfect. But in intensive discussions he absolutely convinced us that he has no transphobic or homophobic ideas. Felix himself has stated that he respects and loves all people, regardless of their skin colour, religion or sexual orientation” said Hans-Joachim Watzke (CEO) and Reinhold Lunow (President of the association) in a statement.##NAJAVA_MECA_7347608##
