Dortmund’s head coach Juergen Klopp.
Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich have made a large profit on their transfer business this close season but pursuers Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen have been spending in a bid to close the gap.
While Bayern have brought in Spaniard Juan Bernat from Valencia, Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) and Mario Mandzukic (Atletico Madrid) have made the reverse journey to La Liga. That has left Munich around 40 million euros (54 million dollars) to the good.
Bayern’s business has been helped by securing Robert Lewandowski and Sebastian Rode from league rivals Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt on free transfers.
Dortmund, runners-up in the last two seasons, have moved to replace Lewandowski with strike duo Adrian Ramos and Ciro Immobile, at a combined cost of more than 30 million euros. At the other end of the park they also secured Matthias Ginter from Freiburg for 10 million euros.
That is a significant strengthening to a squad which already includes Mats Hummels at the back and Marco Reus leading the attack. Coach Juergen Klopp has vehemently denied rumours suggesting either will be allowed to leave.
Bayer Leverkusen - eyeing potential riches from the Champions League if they can win a play-off - have kept the majority of their squad from last season but made a number of notable additions of their own.
Josip Drmic, from Nuremberg, Wendell, from Porto Alegre and rising star Hakan Calhanoglu, from Hamburg, have arrived this summer for a combined bill of around 30 million euros.
But even this investment is tinged with realism. Leverkusen are looking to become the best of the rest rather than a serious challenger to Bayern this season.
“In Dortmund they say they want to annoy Bayern,” Leverkusen sport director Rudi Voeller told Sport Bild this week. “We want to annoy Dortmund.
“We always had to give up our top players like Arturo Vidal and Andre Schuerrle. Now we’ve managed to not lose our best players and on top of that have actually strengthened.”
Schalke, who finished third last season, have had a comparitively quiet summer with only Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting arriving on a free from Mainz and Sidney Sam from Leverkusen for 2.5 million euros.
Wolfsburg also picked up a free transfer in the shape of ex-Werder Bremen midfielder Aaron Hunt and spent 3 million euros on Sebastian Jung. Their budget could be raised considerably if they move for Belgian star Roman Lukaku of Chelsea.
A Belgian who will definitely grace the Bundesliga this season is Thorgan Hazard, brother of Chelsea’s Eden, who moved on loan to Borussia Moenchengladbach from the London club.
And Chile’s World Cup villain Gonzalo Jara will hope to lift his spirits after a missing the decisive penalty in the last 16 game against Brazil with his move to Mainz from Nottingham Forest.