Moukoko on his way out of Dortmund? Negotiations for a new contract have stalled

“A player like Youssouf is of interest to all the leading clubs in the world. Especially since he is a free agent and has a future with the German national team.” These words were bestowed upon Borussia Dortmund’s management by Youssouf Moukok’s agent during the Advent period. This is despite the general belief, which prevailed for most of the autumn, that Moukoko would already be signed to BVB for many years to come by this time.

“Watch his 18th birthday,” was the information shared by a leading German journalist, Manuel Veth, and shared by a source close to the Dortmund situation.

A similar sentiment was shared by several German publications and it was therefore expected that Moukoko would sign a new long-term contract with his club shortly after his 18th birthday – the current one expires after the current season.

The reason for the initially delayed signing was supposed to be the control Moukoko would gain over his decision to turn 18. This has only fuelled speculation about his possible demands.

Only now has the British Standard come forward with the information that the allegedly demanded £115,000 a week was never enforced by the player. Germany’s Sky, on the other hand, came up with the news that BVB’s offer was far from the expected £5 million a year. So apparently finances are indeed one of the sore spots in the negotiations.

The player himself is protected from media interest not only by his surroundings but also by the club. Interviews, including post-match ones in the traditional mixzone, an area full of accredited reporters that players in Bundesliga stadiums have to go through after every game, are only very rarely granted. And even then only in the presence of another responsible person.

This is likely to change as the age of maturity passes and we will get a much better insight into how Moukoko himself views the situation in the coming months. His person remains quite hidden from the general public for the time being.

Even this form of protection and care from the club suggested that Dortmund is an ideal environment where the young striker can grow and mature both footballingly and humanly. He was protected for a long time even before league minutes. Before the start of this season he had only hit 620 league minutes across 30 games.

A rather unprecedented achievement for a sixteen, then seventeen year old, Moukoko has claimed a combined five goals and two assists in that time for more space, although the prevailing opinion in the public domain was that he may not yet be physically developed enough.

However, with the summer departure of Erling Haaland and one year left on Moukoko’s contract, it was expected that the young hope of German football would be given more space. He was not supposed to be the number one striker, that role was to be filled by new arrival Sébastien Haller, a full decade older striker who has already made a name for himself in the Bundesliga in an Eintracht Frankfurt jersey.

However, even after Haller’s diagnosis of testicular cancer, the BVB management did not have full confidence in Moukoko, preferring to sign Anthony Modeste from 1. FC Köln on a short but all the more lucrative contract. A transfer that outraged not only the management and fans of die Geißböcke, but in time also Moukoko’s representatives.

Modeste kept his place in the starting line-up for a long time despite very unconvincing performances, while Moukoko only watched his woes from the bench. When Edin Terzic finally ran out of patience and decided to make a change in the starting line-up, Moukoko showed that he was the right answer to his team’s shooting woes all along.

With six goals and four assists in 766 minutes of league football, he earned himself a call-up to the German national team for the 2022 World Cup. But he also impressed potential suitors, who were surely already aware of his statistics with Borussia Dortmund’s youth team.

Moukoko has a record of 90+16 in just 56 games for BVB’s U17s and 47+10 in the 25 games he played for the U19s of the identical club. A youth team he could still play for at his age.

Also casting a shadow of doubt over Moukoko’s future at Dortmund is the reported interest of the eight-time German champion in new reinforcements at the tip of the attack. The club are said to be monitoring the situation surrounding Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha.

He is out of contract with the London club in the summer. An interesting name in connection with BVB is then Gue-sung Cho, the 24-year-old top striker of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, the second team of the K League 1 table, the top South Korean football competition.

So Borussia Dortmund’s attack is clearly in for a change. One of them may be the summer departure of one of the greatest football talents of our time. Moukoko would have no shortage of suitors.

Marc Behrenbeck of Sky even reported that there have already been talks between Youssouf Moukoko’s representatives and the management of Chelsea FC. However, he did not forget to add that there are a number of clubs monitoring the whole uncertain situation.

Sources