Tobias Raschl: Borussia Dortmund’s newest exciting prospect

Year in and year out Borussia Dortmund promotes a couple of youngsters from their youth squads. This year, midfielder Tobias Raschl has been awarded the honors to play with the first team. Here we look at the young midfielder’s career so far.

Early Beginnings

Tobias Raschl was just 11 years old when he moved to Borussia Monchengladbach’s youth academy. He stayed with Monchengladbach until his 13th birthday when he opted to try out with the Dusseldorf academy, his hometown club. After catching the eyes of Borussia Dortmund’s scouting team, Raschl made a move to the club’s youth U-16 team.

The following year, Raschl kept scaling the ranks of the Borussia Dortmund youth system playing for the U-17 side. He debuted on February the 4th, 2016 in the thrashing 6-1 victory over Rot-Weiß Oberhausen U-17. Raschl came on for captain Julian Schwermann and even managed to come out with an assist only playing 29 minutes. He wouldn’t play again until the 26th matchday when he scored a goal in the 6-0 victory over SF Siegen U-17, this game also marked his first start for the club.

Ascending Through the Ranks

Raschl showed his maturity when he became captain of the U-17 side the following season. He played in 21 games while scoring 7 goals and 7 assists. This earned him another promotion to the U-19’s. This is when injuries played a big toll on him and forced him to miss a big part of the season. Raschl came back for the 18/19 and was named team captain. In his year leading the BVB, he helped the team win the German U-19 Championship, playing in 30 games while scoring 6 goals.

Rumors and Promotion to First Team

During his 2018/19 season with the U-19s many rumors started to float in the air. Raschl’s contract was up in the summer of 2019 and there were many teams interested in the youngster including rivals Bayern Munich and former academy Borussia Monchengladbach. Sebastian Kehl even confirmed that teams were interested, but that he would sit down with the youngster to discuss his future. Luckily, Raschl signed an extension all the way until 2022 and was even invited to preseason with the first team.

Preseason

Raschl has proven himself to be possibly Borussia Dortmund’s next biggest star. He scored twice in Dortmund first friendly against FC Schweinberg. After that, he started for Dortmund against the Seattle Sounders in the 3-1 win.

Raschl has shown a very relaxed playing style that could fit Favre’s system. He has shown great positioning, always being in the perfect position to receive passes. Also, he has proven to be a very solid tackler that loves to pressure without the ball. Following that, his finishing has been phenomenal for a defensive midfielder and his passing has been great. It shows that he would do anything to keep the play alive.

Raschl is a great addition for Dortmund and without a doubt, he can become the next great jewel to come out of the club’s famed academy.