Borussia Dortmund CEO Says They Have To Fight Against Clubs With 'Oligarchs And Arab States' Behind Them

Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke says the Bundesliga side has to 'fight against big clubs with oligarchs and the Arabian states' behind them amid ongoing rumours surrounding the future of Erling Haaland.

It was reported on Monday that the Norwegian forward has already passed medical tests as a Manchester City player, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.

The Premier League champions will trigger the £64 million release clause in Haaland's contract having reached an agreement on personal terms, with a deal set to be made official this week.

The 21-year-old forward, who has scored 85 goals in 88 appearances in all competitions since joining Dortmund from RB Salzburg in 2019, will reportedly pen a five-year deal at the Etihad worth £21 million per season

Haaland's future at the Westfalenstadion has been under intense speculation for months.

And in a recent interview with CNN, Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has spoken about a number of subjects, including the process of dealing with big players leaving the club.

Watzke says the 'inevitably' of transfers like Haaland's make them much easier to manage.

"That's the only way for us because when a player performs very well, we have to fight against the big, big, big clubs with the oligarchs and the Arabian states at their back," he said.

"And this fight we cannot win, but we can win a fight over an 18-year-old player, like Jude Bellingham, because this player loves to play at Borussia Dortmund because we have always 80,000 spectators, it's a very good atmosphere and the club knows how to manage young players.

"That's our way and, okay, we have a good department who are scouting young players every day, but it's also very important if you have the player here, you must develop him and I think that works ... most of the time, it works."

The 62-year-old, a childhood fan of Dortmund, says the club will go on without Haaland, like they did when Robert Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang departed to seek pastures new.

"It's a decision for Erling," Watzke said. "Erling, you know, has an exit clause and he must decide if we wants to take this exit clause or not and he has time to give us his decision. When the time is ready, he will do it.

"But we [Dortmund] have played football for 113 years, and for 111 years, we played without Erling Haaland. We had Robert Lewandowski and then he left us in 2014, but we played football in '15, '16, '17 until now.

"Then next came Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and then Erling Haaland and you can be sure if Erling takes a decision to leave us, we will find the next [player] 100% percent."