Dortmund win race for highly rated Croatian teen Liam Claude Kanté

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Bulinews

·10 July 2026

Borussia Dortmund has fended off competition and won the race to sign one of Europe's highly rated talent Liam Claude Kanté.

According to Fabrizio Romano, the central defender will join the Black and Yellows and his contract has already been signed.

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Kanté is transferring from Croatian club NK Lokomotiva Zagreb to Strobelallee, but won't be fast tracked into Niko Kovač's squad.

In Dortmund, Kanté is initially destined to link up with the U-19 team, and then gradually integrated into the first team.

In the race for the Croatian U-16 international, who is already being described as a wonderkid, BVB prevailed against numerous rivals.

Fellow Bundesliga sides FC Bayern Munich and TSG Hoffenheim, as well as RB Salzburg and clubs from Italy were very interested.