Player's agent demands summer move - why Youssoufa Moukoko could now leave Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund are in the midst of a busy summer transfer window as the Bundesliga club looks to bounce back from a fifth-place finish in the German top-flight last season under new head coach Nuri Şahin. Although the club rather dramatically fought their way to the Champions League final, overall performances in all competitions weren’t enough to keep Edin Terzic in his job as head coach and instead the club have looked to rebuild their squad around a new tactician. And that has led to some major upheaval. 

So far this summer, Dortmund have already made two major signings in Stuttgart pair Waldemar Anton and Serhou Guirassy, but are widely expected to add Manchester City full-back Yan Couto, Lyon playmaker Rayan Cherki and Brighton central defender Pascal Groß to their ranks in the coming weeks. Much of the new investment naturally comes from the club’s unexpected run to last season’s Champions League final, but the German club have also moved on a number of senior players that were on huge wages, such as Marius Wolf, Marco Reus and Mats Hummels. And it seems as though another big name could be about to depart the club before the new seasons too. 

On Monday the agent of striker Youssoufa Moukoko revealed in an interview with Fabrizio Romano that the player had every intention of leaving the club this summer due to a lack of game time at Dortmund. “Youssoufa has a huge potential, which unfortunately he couldn‘t show last season,” said the player’s agent Patrick Williams in an extended interview. “The fact that he scored five goals in 613 minutes says everything about his quality, as just few players in the Bundesliga have such a rate. Youssoufa was promised a lot before he signed, but it wasn’t realised.” Over the course of the last few years, Moukoko has been linked with moves to Liverpool, Manchester United and most recentlyNewcastle. And if the player is as intent on leaving Dortmund as his agent insists, then a transfer to the Premier League may finally materialise for the young striker. 

Why hasn’t Moukoko worked out at Dortmund?

Moukoko quickly made a name for himself in European football while he was coming through Dortmund’s youth ranks due to the empathic nature of his scoring. In 56 games for the club’s U-17 side the striker bagged an incredible 90 goals and 16 assists, before going to pick up 47 goals and 10 assists in 25 games for the club’s U-19 side. However, once Moukoko made the step up to the first team it quickly became clear that he wouldn’t get the same opportunities at senior level that he had clearly been afforded in the club’s youth teams.

After a handful of substitute appearances in the previous two campaigns, Moukoko got his first real shot at a starting role in Dortmund’s side at the start of the 2022/23 season, when he started 10 of the club’s opening 17 league games and picked up an impressive six goals and four assists. However, the player had stepped into a squad that was already well stocked in attacking options and when his form fell off after the winter break and then injury struck with a ligament tear that ruled him out from February to April, Moukoko found himself returning to a team that had unexpectedly mounted a late title challenge in the Bundesliga with new striker Sébastien Haller leading the line and scoring the important goals. Last season didn’t get any easier for Moukoko, as Terzic doubled down on the premise of playing a big target man in attack by signing Niclas Füllkrug in the summer window when it became clear that Haller’s heroic battle with cancer would limit his gametime in the 2023/24 campaign. Indeed, the German striker went on to make 43 appearances and pick up 3,335 minutes of football across all competitions in Haller’s absence, while Moukoko was largely overlooked as little more than an option off the bench. As a result, the young prospect managed just 758 minutes of football across all competitions and just six goals in 27 appearances. 

While Şahin’s promotion from assistant head coach will undoubtedly bring in a new style of play and entirely different tactics for Dortmund next season, it remains to be seen whether they will offer Moukoko an opportunity at more football or not. The arrival of star striker Guirassy will surely force Moukoko down the pecking order, but it remains to be seen whether Dortmund’s intention is to sell the 19-year-old talent or instead sell Haller and Füllkrug should the right offers come in. While Moukoko’s agent may be hinting at a departure from the Bundesliga club, Füllkrug has in fact been the player more heavily linked with an exit this summer. And amidst all the off-the-field drama at Dortmund, Moukoko may get a second shot at proving his worth at the club under the new head coach.