Paco Alcácer’s omission from Augsburg squad raises questions about striker’s Dortmund future | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund travelled to Augsburg on Friday without Paco Alcácer and Dan-Axel Zagadou. In the Spaniard’s case, the omission fuels rumours of an imminent transfer.

When BVB coach Lucien Favre listed the doubtful and injured players at Thursday’s news conference, Paco Alcácer was not one of them. Yet the 26-year-old was not among the players travelling to the WWK Arena.

Even before the Black and Yellows signed centre-forward Erling Haaland in the winter break, there were reports of Alcácer wanting to return to the Primera Division because he was no longer an automatic starter after overcoming several injuries.

His omission from the squad coincides with reports by AS that FC Valencia, Alcácer’s former club, have an interest in bringing their starlet back to the Estadio Mestalla, raising the question whether a transfer of the Spain international is imminent.

Would BVB sign a replacement?

Although Alcácer hasn’t scored a goal for Dortmund since 14. September against Bayer Leverkusen on Matchday 4, he remains an elite finisher. The forward has scored 26 goals in 47 games for the Westphalians thus far, finding the net every 95 minutes on average.

Even if the Spaniard is injury-prone and looked to have fallen out of favour with Favre toward the end of 2019, losing him would be a big blow to Dortmund’s squad depth and would further undermine their proclaimed ambitions to win a Bundesliga title.

Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has publicly conceded that it was a mistake by the club to enter the 2019/2020 season with only just one striker so letting Alcácer after signing Haaland would bring the club back to square one, which means BVB will have to come up with a viable replacement if they were to fulfil the attacker’s wish to return to his home country.

At this point, it would seem like an unnecessary risk considering how much Dortmund’s front office have struggled to attract elite attacking talent for the number 9 position in a highly competitive market.

After all, the Black and Yellows struggled to find a viable replacement for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang before Alcácer fell into their lap late in the summer transfer window in 2018 joining from FC Barcelona’s bench.