Borussia Dortmund manager Peter Stoger said on Thursday now that the Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang transfer saga is finally over his side can refocus on their football as they prepare to face resurgent Cologne on Friday.
"It became a topic behind which no one could hide," Stoger told Bild. "It's good that it's over, because the topic attracted such an incredible amount of attention."
Arsenal spent a club record £56 million (Dh291.5m) on Wednesday to sign the Gabon striker and end weeks of speculation. Stoger, who took charge in December, dropped Aubameyang for Dortmund's first two Bundesliga matches of 2018, yet has defended the striker.
*This* is what @Aubameyang7 can do… 😱 #YoPierre pic.twitter.com/ODSPZwShNU
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 31, 2018
"In my time, he was never late [to training]," the 51-year-old manager said. "He once skipped a team meeting and once trained badly because he obviously wanted to send a signal, but otherwise he behaved properly.
"I cannot say that the boys [team] were so upset [by his behaviour]."
Nevertheless, Stoger said he is delighted the episode was over - for all parties concerned. "If we had sent him to the stands and possibly kept him until summer, the topic would have never been settled and there would have been no winner," the Austrian pointed out.
With Aubameyang gone, Dortmund have signed Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi on loan from Chelsea for the rest of the season.
He is unlikely to start at Cologne on Friday, but Stoger hinted he could feature off the bench. "He is ready to go and there is no training arrears to make up," he said of Batshuayi.
👉 Erstes BVB-Training für @mbatshuayi! pic.twitter.com/vKfZXYlBzC
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) January 31, 2018
English teenager Jadon Sancho is set to make his fourth start while Dortmund's new Swiss centre-back Manuel Akanji could make his debut after signing from Basel. Dortmund start the weekend sixth in Germany's top flight after drawing their last three games.
Despite their placing at the bottom of the table, resurgent Cologne are on a four-match unbeaten run under Stoger's successor Stefan Ruthenbeck. Only a late equaliser at home to Augsburg last weekend denied them four straight wins.
It is a remarkable turnaround as their first win this season only came on December 16 - shortly after dismissing Stoger, who joined Dortmund just a week later.
Ahead of Friday's match, Cologne's director of sport Armin Veh has criticised Stoger for his training methods while at the club.
"Having 13 injured players is not a coincidence and I assume that something went wrong in our training management," Veh told Cologne-newspaper Express in pinning the club's injury woes on Stoger.
"As colleagues, we've always got on and as the manager of Cologne, it was my job to analyse the situation and make the right conclusions."
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