The Norwegian prodigy believes the club’s newest youngster will take the world by storm
Erling Haaland declared Youssoufa Moukoko is “the biggest talent in the world right now” after he made his Borussia Dortmund debut on Saturday.
Just one day after his 16th birthday, Moukoko was brought on against Hertha Berlin in the 85th minute with his side 5-2 up and became the Bundesliga’s youngest ever player in the process.
Haaland, who was replaced by Moukoko, is widely regarded as one of the game’s brightest prospects and was recently awarded the Golden Boy award.
The Norway star is adamant however that Moukoko has the potential to usurp him – noting that age is very much on the teenager’s side.
“I think he’s the biggest talent in the world right now. 16 years and one day, that’s quite amazing. He has a big career ahead of him,” Haaland told ESPN.
Asked about his own talent in comparison, he added: “I’m over 20 years, so I’m getting old now, so that’s how it is.”
Moukoko has already represented Germany at U20 level and was playing for Dortmund’s U17 side at the age of just 12.
Dortmund manager Lucien Favre was short of players on Saturday and hopes Moukoko’s first taste of senior football can spur him on to reach his full potential.
“He’s trained with us now for 14 days. Seven or eight players were away on international duty. It was 5-2 and it was good for him to play his first Bundesliga game but of course he has to keep working,” Favre said.
“He’s very, very young. We have a lot of attacking players, a lot who haven’t played today.”
On the match itself, which Dortmund won 5-2 after trailing 1-0 at half-time, Favre added: “We have to keep playing this way, play the ball forward more, make more runs into the box and the team did that immediately in the second half.”
Favre’s side are currently second in the Bundesliga after eight matches – just one point behind league leaders Bayern Munich, who were held to a 1-1 draw with Werder Bremen on Saturday.
Dortmund next face Club Brugge in the Champions League on Tuesday night before backing up in the Bundesliga against FC Koln.
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