Borussia Dortmund have enjoyed a fantastic start to the 2019 summer transfer window.As we reported HERE, Lucien Favre's side have already added Nico Schulz, Thorgan Hazard and Julian Brandt to their squad for around £65m combined.It's excellent business, funded by the £58m received from Chelsea for Christian Pulisic in January - they also permanently signed Paco Alcacer for £25m midway through the season.Signing three of the Bundesliga's best players may aid Dortmund in their aim to bridge the gap between themselves and serial league winners Bayern Munich.The dominant force of German football have often been accused of ruining the division by scooping up all the best players in the league and flexing their financial muscle.

But one look at the spending figures of Germany's top clubs in recent years highlights that Bayern might not be the problem.

Since 2014/15, both Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen have spent more on players from the Bundesliga than Bayern.

Reddit user kazcmot provided the data from Transfermarkt which highlights that Bayern have only spent €126m on players from Germany in the last five years.

Dortmund? A cool €283.2m. Leverkusen splashed €138.4m on new recruits, while Schalke have only spent €73m.

You can view the full table below, which gives details on all the transfers and the net spend of each club.

Even when it comes to net spend, Dortmund are nearly €110m clear of Bayern.

Schalke's net spend over the time period is an impressive €8.35m, while Leverkusen's is only €16.4m.

However, the two clubs have struggled to maintain consistency in the Bundesliga in recent times, mainly due to losing their best players to both Bayern and Dortmund.

But sadly, that's how football goes.

However, the next time someone down the pub says Bayern are ruining the Bundesliga, maybe factor Dortmund into the equation as well...