Borussia Dortmund CEO threatens mass squad clean out

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Berlin, Feb 8: Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has fired a stern warning to the current squad hinting that if results don't pick up in the second half of the season, the players can expect a mass discharge.

Dortmund have been on the downturn following the first superb three months which also saw them reach the top of the table ahead of Bayern. However, a number of consecutive defeats and quick elimination from Champions League saw Dortmund sack former manager Bosz and appointed Stoger as the new boss.

The sinking ship somehow, for the time being, has steadied as Borussia remain unbeaten in the league under head coach Peter Stoger, who took over in December however still the performance of the players has not been yet satisfactory.

Dortmund's star attacker Aubemeyang made a force transfer to leave the club for Arsenal in the last window and as his replacement, they acquired Chelsea's Batshuayi for the rest of the season with a loan deal.

The player made an instant impact in his first game as he scored one assisted another to win a close 3-2 game against bottom-placed side Cologne last weekend.

Andre Schurrle's late winner for Dortmund gave the host all three points, however, following such questionable performance against such a struggling team, the Bundesliga side's CEO has now finally threatened the squad to improve their performance unless suggested that the team will see mass clean out at the end of the season.

"We need a squad adjustment in the summer, things will be clearer after the second half of the season," Watzke told Frankfurt-based newspaper FAZ.

"Michael Zorc [Dortmund's director of sport] has the lead on this, he knows my opinion and expectation."

"The team that won the 2011 and 2012 (Bundesliga) titles, weren't as good as today's team, but had the best mentality imaginable," added Watzke.

The current crop of Dortmund players are full of youngsters such as ex-Manchester City winger 17-year-old Jadon Sancho, 18-year-old forward Alexander Isak, Maximilian Philipp, 23 and American midfielder Christian Pulisic who all have impressed so far.

However, some of the senior players like Nuri Sahin, defender Sokratis and goalkeeper Roman Burki etc, on the other hand, are still struggling to produce a decent outcome which might have fired the CEO to ultimately stating a stern warning.

The last weekend's result now has left Dortmund fourth in the league table but 19 points behind league leaders Bayern Munich.