Borussia Dortmund will not fall into a hole after striker Robert Lewandowski leaves for Bayern Munich at the end of the season, Dortmund's chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said on Tuesday.
Dortmund have survived the departure of other key players in previous seasons such as Nuri Sahin to Real Madrid and Shinji Kagawa to Manchester United, Watzke told Bild newspaper.
"There were predictions that we wouldn't be able to cope with the loss of Nuri Sahin to Real," Watzke said.
"The same was said when Shinji Kagawa went to Man U. We certainly won't be able to fully replace Robert. But we won't fall into a Lewandowski hole."
Lewandowski has scored 18 goals in the Bundesliga for Dortmund this season and will move to Bayern in July on a free transfer.
Dortmund are second in the Bundesliga with 64 points from 31 matches. Champions Bayern have 81 points.
