Big BVB issue? Ricken draws comparison with Bayern | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund is currently facing challenges in integrating its own talents into the professional team. Lars Ricken explains the reasons and compares BVB's youth development with that of FC Bayern.

Borussia Dortmund has been known for its outstanding youth development for years – talents like Mario Götze, Nuri Sahin, or Marco Reus come from their own youth academy (NLZ). However, recently it has been noticeable that hardly any young player has made the leap into the professional team in recent seasons.

While other clubs like FC Bayern have already fielded two 17-year-olds – Wisdom Mike and Lennart Karl – in the Bundesliga this season, Dortmund's talents are still waiting for their chance. Lars Ricken, Managing Director of Sport at BVB, explained to Bild why this is the case: “Pathways are not based on quotas but must be earned through performance. The competition within our squad is very high, especially in positions where our talents have their natural place.”

The former BVB professional, however, emphasizes that the quality of training in the club remains exceptionally high. “For many years, we have proven that we prepare players in our NLZ in the best possible way for professional football. Of course, I would prefer if we saw even more of them in our professional team,” said Ricken.

Ricken on Youth Promotion: Bayern and BVB on the Same Level

Examples like Nnamdi Collins and Ansgar Knauff show that Dortmund's talents certainly have the potential to establish themselves in the Bundesliga – even if they made their breakthrough at Eintracht Frankfurt first.

Despite the current low permeability, Ricken looks optimistically ahead. He still sees Borussia Dortmund in the same league as the record champions from Munich: “Fundamentally, I do think that Bayern Munich and we are the clubs from whose youth academies the highest number of Bundesliga players have emerged.”

In the long term, according to Lars Ricken, BVB aims to integrate more of its own talents into the professional squad again. The goal is not only to train the young players but also to offer them a real perspective in the Bundesliga.

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