Marco Rose looking forward to working with Youssoufa Moukoko

Borussia Dortmund top talent Youssoufa Moukoko made his much anticipated debut for Die Schwarzgelben last season at just 16 years of age. New head coach Marco Rose plans to take a tempered approach to Moukoko’s inclusion in the squad, so as to not put additional pressure on the youngster.

Youssoufa Moukoko has gathered quite a bit of interest around his name over the course of his years in a Borussia Dortmund shirt. At the youth level, the young striker lit up the competitions he played in, scoring an incredible amount of goals that made his professional debut last November a much anticipated event for the Bundesliga as a whole.

Moukoko made a total of 14 appearances and 2 starts for the senior team last season, scoring 3 goals in the process. It was a turbulent season however, and Moukoko was thrown in as a difference maker at times while the team was in an overall slump of underperformance. Despite this, he performed admirably, always showing glimpses of the quality he has.

Under new head coach Marco Rose, the approach to Moukoko’s development is set to continue to lean in favour of caution. Borussia Dortmund’s new tactician stated last week that he wants to take a policy of “protect, but don’t slow down” when it comes to the young talent:

“The days and hours were counted up to his first outing, up to his first goal. That does something to such a young guy. We have to protect it [his talent] and build it up carefully, without slowing it down in any way. I’m willing to encourage such good young players and to throw them into the game at some point.”

For this to occur, Rose was quick to also add that Moukoko has to show what he can do during training to get the opportunity. Both player and club will still have to exert some patience in this regard, as Moukoko is in the final stages of his recovery after suffering a severe ligament injury in late March.

As of right now, Moukoko is still training individually, but he is expected to make his return to team training within the next two weeks at latest. It will be a welcome return for one of Borussia Dortmund’s brightest prospects, who will be looking to pick up right where he left off last season.

I expect that we’ll see quite a bit of Youssoufa Moukoko in the coming season. Marco Rose sometimes likes to deploy a two striker system so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Moukoko get minutes at the end of games, or even start games against opposition where his incisiveness with the ball will come in handy.