The wonderful thing about football is that it can seemingly fashion stars and heroes out of thin air. Players can suddenly go from unknown quantities to indispensable assets in the matter of months, weeks or even days. And in the case of this season’s Bundesliga, few players epitomise that more than Borussia Dortmund striker Youssoufa Moukoko.
Of course, eagle-eyed fans of German football will know all about the 17-year-old striker. We’ve all read about his remarkable goal-scoring form in Dortmund’s youth sides and most of us have probably seen some compilation of his goals on YouTube, set to some truly horrendous Euro-pop or dance music remix. But now, thankfully, Moukoko has emerged from the Westfalenstadion for the rest of the world to see and truly appreciate.
The player’s transformation from tepid youngster to dependable senior pro was most evident in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Bochum, in which Moukoko all but single-handedly put the local rivals to the sword with a tremendous left-footed shot from the edge of the box in the 8th minute, then a second just before half time, when he calmly lobbed the ball over out-of-position goalkeeper Manuel Riemann.
Following the unfortunate illness that has ruled Sebastian Haller out for much of this season and the poor form of Anthony Modeste, Moukoko's six goals and four assists in 12 Bundesliga games to date have been nothing short of miraculous for Edin Terzic’s side. And with a World Cup on the horizon, in which Hansi Flick may be on the hunt for new options in attack, it’s not hard to envisage a situation in which the young striker ends this season as a bona fide Dortmund and German national team star.
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