Lucien Favre 'Did Not Back' Signings of Either Mats Hummels or Nico Schulz at Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund's difficult start to the 2019/20 season has been compounded by behind the scenes reports claiming that Lucien Favre did not want to sign either Mats Hummels and Nico Schulz.

Dortmund, who are currently fifth in the Bundesliga following wins over Augsburg and Koln and the loss to Union Berlin, brought Hummels back from Bayern Munich in a €38m deal this summer. 

However, according to a report from Sport Bild, as relayed by journalist Manuel Veth on Twitter, Favre was not keen on the move to bring the German back, especially since it came at the cost of Abdou Diallo, who he deemed a better fit for his defensive system. 

Outlining the report, Veth wrote: "Lucien Favre did not back the signing of Mats Hummels. The BVB head coach was not convinced that Hummels fits Dortmund's high defensive line, a system that would have better fitted Abdou Diallo, who has been sold to PSG (Sport Bild)."

23-year-old Diallo joined the French champions over the same summer for a fee in the region of €30m, after just one season at the Westfalenstadion.

In a follow-up tweet, Veth added: "Hummels was signed because of [Hans-Joachim] Watzke. The BVB CEO wanted to bring in a player with a winning mentality. Not the only controversy either. Favre is also not a fan of national team player Nico Schulz."

Hummels has started all three league fixtures thus far, but Schulz was dropped for the loss to Union, after being hauled off during the Koln clash.

However, this is not a one-way street of criticism between manager and player, as it is understood that a number of first-team players have criticised the Swiss coach for both his tactical set-up and his lack of emotion.

Dortmund's next BuLi game comes against Bayer Leverkusen, before they host Barcelona in their Champions League opener next week.