Ahead of the Bundesliga home game against promoted outfit Union Berlin, head coach Lucien Favre and sporting director Michael Zorc spoke about the end of the transfer window, personnel matters and the opposition.

At the very start of the press conference prior to the home game against Union Berlin, BVB sporting director Michael Zorc had an announcement to make: Paco Alcácer "wasn't at training today. We've given him permission to hold final talks with a club in Spain. But we also switched our system around a few weeks ago and have been playing in a 3-4-1-2 with Jadon Sancho and Thorgan Hazard up top," explained Zorc. "In Erling, we've signed a player who is in an outstanding condition, and in the end you always have to weigh up what we can still get and expect from a player. With that in mind, we've made the decision to approve a transfer – provided the financial conditions are right."

Only Delaney to miss Union game

On the subject of personnel for the upcoming game, head coach Lucien Favre had almost entirely positive news to report. "Thomas Delaney is the only player who will not be able to play on Saturday; all the others are available. Delaney is doing much better too but he's not yet able to train normally." Both Dan-Axel Zagadou (Wednesday) and Achraf Hakimi (Thursday) returned to team training during the course of the week as well. "Dan-Axel began training with the team yesterday; it was a good session. He hasn't done much today; he has only trained for an hour, which is normal two days prior to a match. We'll decide tomorrow whether he can play from the beginning or whether he could be an option for Bremen," said Favre of the young Frenchman.

 "We know Union well!"

As for the opposition, Favre made it clear that he would not be underestimating the capital club under any circumstances – especially given the painful 3-1 defeat in the reverse fixture. "We know Union Berlin fairly well. They're difficult for all teams to play against; you can see that from their results. They're athletic, very physical and very well organised. We also played against them in the cup and found that it was very difficult," the head coach said.

BVB TV: The full press conference with Lucien Favre and Michael Zorc