Borussia Dortmund's Youssoufa Moukoko: "I just want to help the team"
Borussia Dortmund's 15-year-old striker Youssoufa Moukoko says he is not putting any pressure on himself ahead of a potential Bundesliga debut on Saturday, saying "I just want to help the team".
The BVB academy prodigy could become the league's youngest ever player this weekend after a rule change permitted 16-year-olds to compete in the top flight; Moukoko’s birthday is the day before Dortmund's game away to Hertha Berlin.
Since joining the club's youth system in 2014, Moukoko has consistently outperformed his contemporaries, hitting 141 goals in 88 games, including 13 in just four appearances for the club's U19 side this season.
Watch: A Moukoko wondergoal for Dortmund's youth academy
As such, he has been fast-tracked into the first-team reckoning, becoming a permanent fixture in training at the start of August 2020 and even being given the No.18 shirt with the pros.
"At my first training session I thought, 'wow, where have I ended up?'" he told BVB.TV. "But I do'’t listen to what other people say. I follow my own path. I just want to help the team. That's why I'm here."
Whether his goalscoring record at youth level will continue among the pros remains to be seen, but with Erling Haaland the only other established forward in the Dortmund squad, the chances are good that Moukoko will be given an opportunity at some point.
Watch: Haaland: "Moukoko better than me at 15!"
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The player himself is taking an equally calm view of the situation: "I'm not really thinking about whether it'll happen on the 20th or the 21st. I know my debut will come at some point. I read what's written in the media, but I'm not putting any pressure on myself."
Still, having only previously seen the likes of Haaland, Jadon Sancho and Marco Reus on television, the youngster admitted it was special to be rubbing shoulders with them in the flesh out on the training pitch.
"The first time I arrived I made a video because I'll never experience another day like that," he said. "I could say, 'now I'm with the first team' and it was a whole new feeling. It was amazing - it still hasn't really sunk in.
"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."
The quality of defenders he will face may be different from now on, but his objective remains the same as it has always been: "Goals. As a striker, you live for goals."
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