Ingo Preuß, manager of the BVB U23s, has been hard at work over the past few days. Preuß, alongside the new coaching team led by Enrico Maaßen and Pascal Bieler, has been busy shaping the squad for the upcoming Regionalliga West season. After the arrivals of Moritz Broschinski (Energie Cottbus) and Aday Ercan (SC Wiedenbrück), five new signings can now be announced.

21-year-old goalkeeper Stefan Drljaca moves to the Ruhr region from the TSG Hoffenheim U23s. Drljaca, who made 24 appearances in the Regionalliga Südwest last season, now becomes the fourth goalkeeper on the books at BVB, joining Roman Bürki, Marwin Hitz and Luca Unbehaun. The quartet will train together under the watchful eye of goalkeeping coach Matthias Kleinsteiber.  

Midfielder Franz Pfanne joins his coach in moving from league rivals SV Rödinghausen to join Dortmund. The 25-year-old will be expected to act as a stabilising presence in the U23s' game, providing dependability and security for his younger teammates. Ingo Preuß describes Pfanne as ''an unbelievable runner, with strength in the tackle, and a top defensive player in the air.''

20-year-old Cebrails Makreckis will play his second season of senior football in German. Educated at the Bayer Leverkusen academy, the German-Latvian moved to Bonner SC last year, making a total of 21 appearances in the 19/20 season. The Latvia U19 international can play as an attacking midfielder or a winger.

Richmond Tachie, another offensive player, joins from 3. Liga outfit Viktoria Cologne. In the words of Ingo Preuß, Tachie is ''a speedy winger with good shooting ability.'' The 20-year-old received his footballing education at VfL Wolfsburg, where he played against BVB. In the first leg of the U19 German Championship encounter between the two sides in 2017, Tachie scored the goal which gave the Wolves a 2-1 lead at half-time.

Migel-Max Schmeling also moves to Dortmund from a 3. Liga club - MSV Duisburg. After working his way up through the ranks of the club's youth sides, he made his first-team debut for the Zebras in the summer of 2018. The left-back then made a total of ten appearances last season. Schmeling, who is fast and technically gifted, is equally effective down both ends of the pitch. 

Three players sign contract extensions

Jan-Pascal Reckert has been a member of the U23 squad since the summer of 2016. In light of the 23-year-old goalkeeper's value to the team both as a footballer and a person, all parties agreed that a two-year contract extension was in order. U19 players Alaa Bakir and Malte Wengerowski have also been rewarded with new contracts. Bakir, who captained the U19s last season, has been at Borussia Dortmund since the summer of 2016 and is capable of playing anywhere in midfield. Teammate Wengerowski joined BVB from Osnabrück in 2017. The majority of his appearances for the U19s came as a winger.

There are also changes in the coaching team: former pro player Benjamin Schüßler will take on the duties of fitness coach for next season, taking over from Dr. Alexander Ulbricht, who has been promoted to the role of coordinator in his field of expertise. Schüßler previously spent several years working at RW Oberhausen.