"Was very sad": BVB chief Cramer on Moukoko's departure | OneFootball

He has broken pretty much every record. At just 16 years old, Youssoufa Moukoko made his Bundesliga debut and scored his first goal in only his sixth appearance. In 2022, he was named to the German squad for the World Cup in Qatar. But at some point, the striker's development stagnated. Now 20 years old, the German-Cameroonian is taking a fresh start in Copenhagen.

During his youth at BVB, Moukoko tore up the nets. For Dortmund’s U19s, he scored a phenomenal 47 goals in 25 appearances. His record in the U17s is no less impressive, with 90 goals in 56 matches. A successful career seemed preordained.

The all-out striker made 99 appearances for the Black and Yellows’ first team. His 18 goals and eight assists are certainly respectable for a player of his age, but it wasn’t enough to secure a regular starting spot with the Westphalians in the long run.

The loan to OGC Nice in the 2024/25 season turned into a moderate fiasco. At first, Moukoko fluctuated between the pitch and the bench. After the embarrassing cup exit on February 5, 2025, against then-fourth division side Stade Briochin (1:2), the two-time German international didn’t get a single minute of playing time.

Moukoko’s return to Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2025 was short-lived. FC Copenhagen put five million euros on the table and signed him until 2030.

In the Champions League against BVB

So far, the former BVB wonderkid has made 13 appearances for the Danish double winners. He has scored three times and provided one assist. “Five years ago, it wasn’t my plan to end up here. Today, I still feel good and am very happy about the opportunity in Copenhagen,” Moukoko recently told Danish TV channel TV 2.

With FCK, the 20-year-old has reached the Champions League, where he will face Borussia on October 21. Dortmund’s managing director Carsten Cramer (56) is convinced that Moukoko made the right decision. “I like him a lot and was very sad when he left us,” the Danish portal bold.dk quotes him as saying. But leaving the Black and Yellows was inevitable.

Moukoko’s chances of playing at BVB would not have been very high, Cramer believes. “In a situation like that, you have to realize at some point that it’s not working anymore. That’s how it is in football and in sports in general.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.