Soccer: No Mkhitaryan For Dortmund In Opener, No New Additions Plann

NO MKHITARYAN FOR DORTMUND IN OPENER, NO NEW ADDITIONS PLANNED

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
August 8, 2013 Thursday 2:48 PM EST

Dortmund, Germany

DPA SPORTS football Germany Dortmund No Mkhitaryan for Dortmund in
opener, no new additions planned Dortmund, Germany Borussia Dortmund
will not have the services of big name new acquisition Henrikh
Mkhitaryan for their 2013-14 season opener Saturday at Augsburg due
to an ankle issue, coach Juergen Klopp said Thursday.

“Micki cannot play,” said Klopp, who has not had the Armenian
international in training since Mkhitaryan injured his ankle about
three weeks ago.

Mkhitaryan, who arrived in Dortmund in the off-season for 25 million
euros (33.3 million dollars) from Shakhtar Donetsk, recently was able
to train individually, but remains out of team training.

Dortmund are also questioning if Ilkay Guendogan can play after the
German international left training Thursday with a back issue.

Should Guendogan not be able to go, Klopp could insert summer signee
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the right wing and Marco Reus would move
into the middle. Australian Mitch Langerak meanwhile will definitely
fill in for suspended top keeper Roman Weidenfeller.

It appears more and more likely that Dortmund are done adding players
– after bringing in Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang and centre back Sokratis
during the summer.

“We are still keeping our eyes open, but the roster is strong enough
as well,” said Klopp, who has especially been impressed with the
club’s own youth players such as Marvin Duksch and Jonas Hofmann.

“At the moment today, all the guys we have added have left a fantastic
impression. Now we hope that everything stays like that and everybody
stays healthy and we will play a season which we can all look back
on very, very positively.”

From: A. Papazian