Congrats, here’s another needless sideshow.
Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke gave an interview to his Freddy Röckenhaus in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on Saturday.
The interview started by pointing to Watzke’s biography that will hit the shelves in German bookstores soon, vividly reminding the reader that the CEO, indeed, is 60 years old.
Now, asked about the lofty salary that 20-year-old Jadon Sancho is likely to earn if he joins a Premier League side, the Sauerländer invoked former Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang apropos of nothing.
“Some go to clubs following the money, where they then won’t play Champions League for years. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is playing great at Arsenal and his heart is probably warming when he looks at his bank account. But on Wednesdays, he watches Champions League only on tv and is sad,” Watzke said, apparently trying to make a point that ‘money isn’t everything’?
If you revel in petty Schadenfreude, good for you. But when “mentality” is the, admittedly cringe-inducing, theme of the week you should know better than to drag your immature ex-striker in a national newspaper.
Eighth-placed BVB have enough on their own platter as it is and don’t need a spat with Aubameyang, who responded by essentially calling Watzke a greedy clown. While the 30-year-old Arsenal player conveniently left out the part where he and his buddy Ousmane ducked team training to force a move away from the Westfalenstadion, Aubameyang still has a point.
This drama was wholly unnecessary and, frankly, makes Watzke look like a bloviating buffoon which does not reflect well on the currently underperforming club that he represents.
The Dortmund boss just raised the likeliness of BVB crashing out against Arsenal in the Europa League later this season because the universe absolutely works that way.
