When Tottenham followers take a look at the attacking lineup of their opponents, FC Copenhagen, earlier than Tuesday's Champions League tie, just a few acquainted names could spring out. Mohamed Elyounoussi, previously of Southampton and Celtic, has in all probability been the Danish membership's most harmful participant this season, topping their scoring and assists charts. Jordan Larsson, son of Henrik Larsson, is vastly improved this yr and not too long ago earned a recall to the Sweden squad. However maybe the largest shock would be the identify of Youssoufa Moukoko, the previous Borussia Dortmund wonderkid who was rated as maybe the largest prospect in world soccer just a few years in the past.
The hype round Moukoko in 2020 was astonishing, even earlier than he made his Dortmund debut. As a 14-year-old in 2018-19, the Cameroon-born ahead scored a report 50 league targets for the German aspect's under-17s, and at 13 had declared to Bild his intention to win the Ballon d'Or. Promoted to the under-19s the next season, he scored 34 targets in 20 video games, additionally offering 9 assists. A day after his sixteenth birthday in November 2020, Moukoko got here off the bench for Erling Haaland – the teammate and neighbour who used to drive him to coaching and as soon as known as him “the largest expertise on the planet” – to change into the youngest Bundesliga participant of all time. Earlier than Christmas he turned the youngest participant to look within the Champions League and rating within the Bundesliga. Moukoko's rise was unprecedented, information seemingly falling each week, and it appeared just like the beginning of the following international famous person.
Dortmund have a behavior of creating and promoting The Subsequent Huge Factor for a big charge: lately Ousmane Dembélé and Jude Bellingham introduced in properly over €100m every, whereas Haaland, Christian Pulisic, Jadon Sancho and Jamie Gittens have every introduced in additional than €50m. So when Moukoko left Dortmund quietly this summer time, with FC Copenhagen paying £4.3m, it appeared as if one thing had badly gone awry. How did the Germany worldwide, who went to the World Cup in 2022, go from signing a bumper new Dortmund contract in 2023 with a six-figure weekly wage to leaving the membership a few years later?
There are a myriad of things. To be a wonderkid, notably at a high-profile membership similar to Dortmund, you need to negotiate all types of potential pitfalls. Type, health, a change of supervisor or agent or taking part in accomplice, a failed switch, intense media stress or a contract row can throw a younger participant off. Possibly there's a private or household downside, sapping confidence, robbing sleep, draining motivation and fearlessness. We now have witnessed, to a various extent, the profession fluctuations that Sancho, Pulisic, even Bellingham, Gittens and Dembélé – the present Ballon d'Or winner – have skilled. Not everybody can get pleasure from a seamless rise like Haaland and for many it's about capitalising on the peaks and using out the troughs. That may be onerous as a teen.
Moukoko didn't go from wanting like a world-conquering wonderkid to a Dortmund reject in a single day. It was a domino impact that began with a collection of small accidents that led to a substitute position underneath two coaches – Marco Rose and later Edin Terzic – who subsequently put religion in others similar to Donyell Malen, Karim Adeyemi and Niclas Füllkrug. Confidence sapped, Moukoko struggled for minutes and targets, which led to a failed mortgage at Good final season, his departure from Dortmund apparently quickened by an incendiary interview performed final summer time by his agent, who advised Fabrizio Romano of Dortmund's errors and his consumer's suitors.
At Good, the 2 targets Moukoko scored on his first begin have been his solely ones in 22 appearances. Requested not too long ago about his experiences on the Ligue 1 membership, Moukoko advised the Danish broadcaster TV2: “I've skilled what it's prefer to be on the prime. I've additionally skilled what it's prefer to be on the backside. It was actually powerful. There have been nights after I simply lay awake fascinated with it, I've to be trustworthy. However it taught me to be humble, to maintain my toes on the bottom and to not be conceited.
“I feel it made sense for me to undergo that. There have been plenty of essential tales about me. In Good, they wrote that I used to be off form. However I skilled tougher than ever earlier than. I skilled thrice a day by myself and found a brand new motivation inside myself.”
What Moukoko didn't explicitly point out was an argument that dominated his time in France, and brought on headlines throughout the continent. In December 2024, a documentary entitled “Methods, Cheats, Deception – the Million Greenback Enterprise with Soccer Skills” was launched, during which a number of damaging claims have been made: Joseph Moukoko, beforehand recognised as Youssoufa's father, claimed he was neither his organic father or mother nor was the footballer born on 20 November 2004, in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Joseph claimed Youssoufa was born on 19 July 2000. Joseph mentioned he had falsified Youssoufa's paperwork “so he might have higher alternatives in European soccer”.
Dortmund launched a strongly worded rebuttal of the documentary's claims. “Within the case of Youssoufa Moukoko, the organic mother and father and the date of beginning are derived from official identification paperwork and beginning certificates issued by a German authority,” an announcement mentioned. “These paperwork are nonetheless legitimate at this time and are the premise for enjoying authorisations and permits for golf equipment, no matter whether or not they're home or international, and naturally additionally for affiliation groups such because the German Underneath-21 nationwide group. Please additionally word that each the participant and the organic mother and father recognized within the above-mentioned paperwork have declared to us and, within the case of the mother and father, even to 3rd events by way of affidavits within the context of authorized proceedings that the knowledge contained within the aforementioned official paperwork is right. This factual standing is in fact decisive for us, the DFB, and the participant's present membership.”
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How the claims affected Moukoko can't be ascertained, however his performances or minutes didn't enhance and he made solely 4 substitute appearances in Ligue 1 after the documentary's launch. It's attention-grabbing that at FC Copenhagen he doesn't have Moukoko on the again of his shirt, preferring Youssoufa.
When Moukoko's switch in the summertime was introduced, Dortmund's sporting director, Sebastian Kehl, talked about that Moukoko's “improvement had stalled not too long ago” and wished him “a contemporary begin … to take full benefit of his undoubtedly enormous potential”. FC Copenhagen acknowledged that “Youssoufa comes with a loopy quantity of stress as a result of he has been heralded as one of many subsequent greats in world soccer – with all that comes with that”.
Moukoko's profession could have stalled, however FC Copenhagen are a giant membership, combating for titles and competing within the Champions League. The 20-year-old's had not more than a gentle begin in Denmark till he netted a cup hat-trick final Wednesday and one other aim within the league on Saturday. He's proof that rather a lot can occur in just a few years, and he nonetheless has the stage and alternative to make good on his early promise.
