Have Dortmund discovered a future Ballon D’Or winner?
Borussia Dortmund is known around the world for developing younger players, whether they have come from their own academy products and or if they were bought young from other teams.
Their trust in their young players is admirable and they also received lots of praise after they replaced Ousmane Dembele with 17-year old Jordan Sancho from Manchester City.
While other youth products such as Felix Passlack have been impressing in the Dortmund first team, another player is currently causing shockwaves in the Under 17 team.
And that player is none other than Youssoufa Moukoko.
With 27 goals in 15 appearances, averaging a goal every 47 minutes, it is fair to say that Dortmund may have uncovered a diamond in the Cameroonian born German.
However, as impressive as his performances have been and as staggering as his statistics maybe; there is another statistic that is making Jaws drop-the fact that he is only 13-years old and is playing almost five years above his age group.
The striker joined the BVB set up from St Pauli Youth when he was 11-years old and can also play left wing and right wing.
If you were to watch him play, you would find it impossible to believe that the youngster, who would be choosing his GCSE Options right now if he grew up in the UK, was five years younger than most of his colleagues and counterparts.
At 5ft 7inches he still has plenty of growing left to do and he still has time for his body to strengthen and condition.
Moukoko came over from Cameroon with his father in 2014, where they moved to Hamburg in Germany.
Ever since then, the youngster has not looked back and has terrified most defences he has played against.
Moukoko has lightning pace and acceleration but also possesses a composure that is so rarely seen in young players.
All of these characteristics were demonstrated in a match against Arsenal last season, where he accelerated past a defender, took the ball around the keeper, and then another player on the goal line, before passing the ball into an empty net.
He is very similar to Samuel Eto’o when he was in his prime at Barcelona: fast, incisive, opportunistic and clinical.
However, instead of calling him the future of Borussia Dortmund and one of the hottest properties in German football, everyone should just calm down and remember that he is only 13-years old.
Of course, he is playing considerably higher than his supposed age range and of course, it will be a long time until he dons the yellow and black jersey of Dortmund at a sold-out Signal Iduna Park.
The only thing left to do right now allow him to mature as a footballer and as a person, keep his feet on the ground and most importantly keep him away from Bayern Munich.
