Dortmund director Mislintat fired amid reported power struggle

DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund has fired technical director Sven Mislintat after nine months as the club seeks to turn around a season which has seen last season's Champions League runner-up fall to 11th in the Bundesliga.

Mislintat, who previously worked at Arsenal and Ajax, was appointed in May to oversee "squad planning" at Dortmund. The troubled team fired coach Nuri Sahin last month and replaced him with Niko Kovac.

A brief Dortmund statement said Mislintat was told in person on Thursday by Lars Ricken, the managing director for sport, that he would be relieved of his duties "with immediate effect."

Mislintat was renowned for identifying promising young players for Dortmund to sell at a profit when he was in charge of the club's scouting operation from 2006-17, a time when Dortmund signed players like Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembélé.

His exit comes amid reports of power struggles in Dortmund's management ahead of the scheduled departure later this year of longtime chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke.

Dortmund plays Stuttgart on Saturday in the Bundesliga in Kovac's first game as coach.

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