Dortmund – Borussia Dortmund’s youth coordinator Lars Ricken sees “not even a handful” of young stars in the next few years who will benefit from the new age rule in professional football.
I can understand the skepticism. Of course, we as a club have a great responsibility said the former international in an interview with Sport1. We can’t just blindly throw someone in. It is also not a question of increasing the market value of a talent through early deployments. For me, it is clear that these are absolutely exceptional cases.
The general meeting of the German Football League had approved an application from BVB at the end of March so that a player can be deployed after he has reached the age of 16. “We were not only supporters but also initiators,” said Ricken, adding with a view to 15-year-old super talent Youssoufa Moukoko: “He has scored almost 130 goals in the past three years. At least you have to give the boy the opportunity to take the next step in development.
In addition, “foreign leagues have had a competitive advantage so far”. “It cannot be in the spirit of German football if we gave Youssoufa to England, for example, to take this next step,” said Ricken. Moukoko turns 16 on November 20 this year.
