The summer transfer window of 2018 saw the usual accusations thrown around by German football fans:

“Buying the league again.”

“Weakening their rivals for another easy season.”

Bayern Munich latest acquisition was the key player for the 2017-18 runners-up, with Leon Goretzka (£2.63) leaving Schalke on a free transfer to move to the Allianz Arena. Time has proven that Schalke are a lot weaker without the midfielder, but for the first time in years, there is finally a realistic title race in the Bundesliga.

Goretzka was Bayern’s only real addition before this season, with the club’s bosses deciding to save for a big summer in 2019, thinking that their existing crop of players would be strong enough to romp to a seventh successive title. However, while Bayern were busy looking to next summer, Borussia Dortmund were strengthening throughout their team.

Dortmund’s summer signings were straight out of the Football Manager playbook, signing starters or suitable backups for every single position of need: Goalkeeper Marwin Hitz (£0.33), centre-back Abdou Diallo (£1.67), versatile full-back Achraf Hakimi (£2.99), centre midfielders Axel Witsel (£2.17) and Thomas Delaney (£0.80), winger Marius Wolf (£0.93), and forward Paco Alcacer (£2.75). While new Bayern coach Niko Kovac inherited a team led by veterans, Lucien Favre arrived at Dortmund with a whole host of young talent.

The new additions have been among Dortmund’s best performers this season. Axel Witsel looks at home in the centre of the park, despite many doubting him beforehand due to the fact he had never played in one of Europe’s top five leagues. Thomas Delaney stepped up seamlessly from Werder Bremen, while Diallo did the same following his move from Mainz.

Hakimi has been one of the best full-backs in Europe this season, both in the Bundesliga and the Champions League, and Dortmund are eager to seal a permanent transfer from Real Madrid when his two-year loan deal finishes. Alcacer started well and is a brilliant option off the bench, leading Dortmund to activate the purchase clause in his contract.

However, two existing talents have been Dortmund’s best players this season. England teenager Jadon Sancho (£15.35) developed from an impact substitute into an undroppable player under Favre, while Marco Reus (£2.95) is headed for his best season ever in terms of goals and assists despite his injury troubles.

Reus’s recent absence has allowed Bayern to regain ground on their title rivals, with Kovac putting pressure in the past and starting 2019 in style. There is now just three points between the sides as Kovac decided not to try and please everyone and instead focus on getting results.

He has angered full-back Rafinha (£1.52) by not playing him, but Joshua Kimmich (£7.15) is a permanent fixture in Kovac’s XI and has the second most assists this season (only Sancho has more). James Rodriguez (£5.16) has found his place in the team at the expense of Thomas Muller (£1.48), and although Bayern fans love the eccentric German forward, they love winning more, so are in no rush to call for his return to the starting lineup.

Previous coaches leaned heavily on Arjen Robben (£0.64) and Franck Ribery (£0.93), but Kovac is looking to the future on the flanks, getting the best out of Serge Gnabry (£2.93) and Kingsley Coman (£2.83), with the latter looking like a world class talent as long as he can stay fit.

With just 10 games left in the season, this is the most entertaining title race in a long time in Germany, and is likely to go right down to the wire especially given Bayern’s final fixtures against RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt, while Dortmund face local enemies Schalke and Borussia Monchengladbach in their last four games of the campaign.

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