“Uli Hoeness should have better spared himself the remarks. The timing is also very surprising, after all, Bayern have Champions League next week and actually better things to do,” Rauball told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) daily.

Watzke told the Bild paper that he and Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge “have been trying for years to ensure that the two largest German clubs maintain a respectful relationship. I think it’s a shame that regular attempts are made to undermine this.”

Watzke and Rauball followed Dortmund sports director Michael Zorc who had on Monday dismissed Hoeness’ statements that Dortmund’s model of signing youngsters to sell at a huge profit meant players lacked identification with the club.

“If Dortmund buy a highly talented player and he plays well, a few months later you will hear either from within the club itself or from outside, that he will eventually be for sale,” Hoeness had told Monday’s FAZ.

“How can a player absorb the DNA of a club 100 per cent if he feels he is for sale? We don’t have that at all. We get players for Bayern Munich. And never to make a business out of it.”

Bundesliga runners-up Dortmund have lost several star players throughout the years with Bayern among the clubs to benefit by signing Mats Hummels and Mario Goetze for large fees and Robert Lewandowski for free.

English winger Jadon Sancho could be next to depart having been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United in Bild and English media.

Dortmund have recently signed another youngster in Jude Bellingham, and former Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller wondered in Bild whether “the frustration once again seems deep that Jude Bellingham has decided against Bayern and for Dortmund.”