The talks were there from the very beginning of the season, and Youssoufa Moukoko did indeed manage to become the youngest Bundesliga player ever, aged 16 years and 1 day as he came on for Erling Haaland in Dortmund’s 5-2 victory over Hertha Berlin.
Despite only seeing about 8 minutes of game time, Moukoko made his debut from the bench. The German wonderkid has been labelled as the next big thing in world football and has been hyped for greatness by Haaland as well.
“I think he’s the biggest talent in the world right now. 16 years and one day, that’s quite amazing. He has a big career ahead of him,” Haaland told ESPN.
When asked about his own talent in comparison, he added: “I’m over 20 years, so I’m getting old now, so that’s how it is.”
Haaland had just scored four goals to pull Dortmund back from 1-0 down in the first half, and the words from the Golden Boy could soon be those on everyone’s lips.
Moukoko joined Dortmund from St Pauli’s youth academy and has since gone on to score an unbelievable 141 goals from only 89 games across all competitions. He has also managed to provide 27 assists during that time.
“The first time I arrived I made a video because I’ll never experience another day like that,” Moukoko told Borussia Dortmund TV. “I could say: ‘Now I’m with the first team’ and it was a whole new feeling.”
“It was amazing. I went home and I still couldn’t get my head around it. I was so happy in training, but afterwards I understood that it was what I’d worked for. I’m here now and I need to do my best.”
Moukoko, standing at 1.79 metres tall, primarily operates as a centre forward just like Erling Haaland. He has been capped twice for Germany’s Under 20 team but is yet to score for them.
Dortmund manager Lucien Favre had this to say after the German wonderkid made his debut in the Bundesliga:
“The debut is good for him, good for the team. He is still young and we have many options in attack. We will see. But through his efforts and commitment, he should again get a chance in the first team.”
