Having come closer to a first Bundesliga title in 11 years last season than at any point since - only being denied in the season's final minutes by a goal scored by Bayern Munich midfielder Jamal Musiala - Dortmund could easily have built off that season's momentum, especially their resurgence in the back half of the campaign, to mount another serious league title challenge in 2023-24.
Even after selling superstar midfielder Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid for €103 million, Dortmund were now equipped with a sudden infusion of money which in turn could have bankrolled key signings that would've fuelled a title push. Instead, Dortmund not only did not make any signings that particularly moved the needle; they also did not even come close to using all of the money with which the Bellingham transfer provided them. Felix Nmecha and Marcel Sabitzer, while not scrubs by any means, are nowhere near the level needed to take Die Schwarzgelbe to the next level while Niclas Füllkrug has regressed sharply just one season after being the league's top scorer.
For this as well as several other reasons, Dortmund's 4-0 trouncing at Bayern's hands in the latest edition of Der Klassiker cannot be completely dismissed as a one-off. Harry Kane, Bayern's own big-money off-season signing, continued his molten-hot start to the season by netting a hat-trick. The English striker's three goals took his league tally to the season to a staggering 15 after just 10 matches. Although only about a quarter of the season has passed, it now seems evident that Dortmund do not have what it takes to bring the Bundesliga trophy to Signal Iduna Park this season.
The lack of proper investment over the off-season was not the only issue that made itself evident in Dortmund's crushing loss. For many seasons now, it seems as though Dortmund themselves do not believe that they can actually beat Bayern. This has held true even when players like Bellingham and Erling Haaland played for the club. Time and again, Dortmund have come up short when the pressure has been at its greatest and the stakes have been highest.
Ever since Jürgen Klopp left the Dortmund dugout in 2015 for Liverpool, this "championship mentality" has been conspicuously missing at Dortmund - especially when playing in Der Klassiker. From the beginning of the 2017-18 season to today, Dortmund have played in 13 Bundesliga editions of Der Klassiker. In those 13 matches, they have won just once and drawn just once. The other 11 were all losses. Over those same 13 matches, Dortmund have scored 15 goals while conceding 44 - a statistic which is such an outlier it scarcely seems believable.
This also brings up another pertinent question: what exactly is the end target for Dortmund? Not just for this season - for the next several seasons to come as well. Are they truly willing to settle for being a mere "pipeline club" known for churning out young talent and sending them to top clubs until the next superstar on the level of Bellingham or Haaland turns up? Though they may claim to be in it for the silverware, their actions and subsequent results tell a different story entirely.
On top of all of this, Dortmund are now at heightened risk of losing three more promising youngsters sooner than they'd have liked - Karim Adeyemi, Youssoufa Moukoko, and Giovanni Reyna. One wonders how much longer the three of them would be willing to put up with this and instead head for a club which truly believes in its ability to win big matches and trophies.
Even if Dortmund strengthens the squad by acquiring new players in January, that's not likely to make as much of a difference as one might initially assume. What's been going on at Dortmund goes beyond any individual player - just ask Bellingham or Haaland, for example. Dortmund's consistent failure to step up under pressure is a systemic issue from the top and all the way down. At this point, not even a DFB-Pokal win is likely - even after Bayern's shock elimination against Saarbrucken in the round of 32.
At this point, the question "what's next for Borussia Dortmund?" almost seems pointless. Unless something radically changes, it's likely to be more of the same for at least several more years to come.
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