Ansgar Knauff, Lennard Maloney and the next wave of young players at Borussia Dortmund
Youssoufa Moukoko and Gio Reyna have already broken into the Borussia Dortmund first team as teenagers. Who else do BVB have up their sleeve from their fabled youth academy?
bundesliga.com looks at five players coach Edin Terzic will know very well, who could come in and make a difference at the Signal Iduna Park as Die Schwarzgelben look to get their season back on track…
Ansgar Knauff
Age: 19
Position: Right winger
The Germany U19 winger has been at Dortmund for four years having joined the club as a 14-year-old in 2016, and first caught the eye with a wonder goal in the final of the 2018/19 German U17 championship. By 2019/20, Knauff helped form a BVB U19 attack consisting of himself, Moukoko, Reyna and their captain Alaa Bakir that helped the team to 65 goals in just 20 league matches last season. Knauff moved up to train with the first team alongside Moukoko last summer and signed his first professional terms with the club last November.
Knauff was named in a Bundesliga matchday squad for the first time as Dortmund beat Hoffenheim on Matchday 4 and made his professional debut in the UEFA Champions League in December. Climbing off the bench with seven minutes left of the 2-1 win at Zenit Saint Petersburg, Knauff slotted in alongside Reyna and Moukoko once more, and that trio will surely resurface in the Bundesliga too. Knauff has seven goals and four assists from 16 second team appearances so far this season and - able to play on either flank or even fill in as a wing-back - he's drawn comparisons to both Jadon Sancho and former Dortmund man Achraf Hakimi. His ascension appears inevitable and his record alongside - and relationship with - Reyna and Moukoko may be just the tonic to revitalise Dortmund.
Luca Unbehaun
Age: 19
Position: Goalkeeper
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With Roman Bürki suffering a shoulder injury that has kept the Dortmund No.1 sidelined for two weeks, and deputy Marwin Hitz yet to truly stake his claim for the jersey, Unbehaun is pushing both to take the gloves long-term. That may seem far fetched for a 19-year-old yet to make his professional bow, but Dortmund have kept just one clean sheet in their last 14 Bundesliga matches and need to swiftly stop conceding goals if they’re to regain a place in the top four.
Unbehaun - named alongside Moukoko and Reyna by Goal as one of 2020's 50 Top Teenagers in World Football - has featured on the Dortmund bench three times in the league this term, and a further three occasions in the Champions League and once in the DFB Cup. It would suggest the Germany U20 international is close to a first-team debut and very much third in line, while his three clean sheets from 10 games with the second string are an encouraging return. He does also have competition from within, courtesy of 21-year-old stopper Stefan Drljaca who has also trained with the first team and chalked up seven shutouts in 13 games in the fourth tier.
Lennard Maloney
Age: 21
Position: Centre-back
The Berlin-born USA youth international will have watched Reyna’s rise from Dortmund age group star to full USMNT member keenly, hoping he too can follow a similar path; albeit from an entirely different position on the field. The 6’2” centre-back joined Dortmund from Union Berlin last August and has since firmly established himself at the heart of the reserve team's defence. Maloney has started 22 of their 23 matches this season, contributing to 10 clean sheets in the process.
Maloney does have experience of senior football having made his debut for Die Eisernen against Greuther Fürth in Bundesliga 2 back in April 2018, while he also featured eight times for Chemnitzer FC in the third tier in 2019/20. Mats Hummels and Manuel Akanji are pretty much a nailed on central pairing, while midfielder Emre Can right-back Lukasz Piszczek can both play there, so Maloney's path may be rather blocked for now, but Dan-Axel Zagadou's potentially season-ending hamstring injury does show that Dortmund are left a little light on out-and-out centre-backs, which could open the door for the young German-American defender sooner rather than later.
Tobias Raschl
Age: 20
Position: Attacking midfielder
Dortmund certainly aren't lacking in attacking midfield options either, with Sancho and Reyna joined by captain Marco Reus, Julian Brandt, Thorgan Hazard and Reinier in fighting it out for a spot behind Ering Haaland in the final third. But, as seen in Reyna’s explosive transition into first-team talisman, age is but a number at Dortmund and Raschl’s performances this campaign will certainly have registered on Terzic’s radar considering the BVB coach's admiration for the youngster. "Tobi isn't just a great player; he's also a great guy," he beamed at the start of the season.
The 20-year-old has created seven goals for his teammates and scored three more in 13 games with Dortmund II this season, including six provisions in his last four outings. Rachl's hat-trick of assists plus a strike of his own in the 5-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach at the end of January was a particular highlight and he looks ready to add to his single Bundesliga appearance that came on the final day of the 2019/20 campaign. He’s also made four out of six Champions League matchday squads this term and is breathing down the necks of those more established names ahead of him.
Dominik Wanner
Age: 21
Position: Left winger
Wanner has played second fiddle to Knauff in terms of wing wonder for much of this season, but recent weeks have shown just how exciting the Mainz native is. The 21-year-old has scored twice and set up another in his last two reserve team matches, helping him to his best single season return in the fourth tier. Another clearly on the first-team radar, Wanner was selected in a senior squad for the first time in the Champions League loss at Lazio in October.
The route into the first team may be slightly more accessible for Wanner on the left of Dortmund's attack compared to, say, Taylan Duman's bid to make a name for himself on the right, where Jadon Sancho is currently firmly housed. But that is not to write off Duman either. The former Fortuna Düsseldorf player has been involved in 18 goals (11 goals, seven assists) in 18 games with the reserves, and, like Wanner, has made the first-team squad before, on Matchday 32 of last season.
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