Borussia Dortmund's next breakout academy player: Ousmane Diallo

Replacing Paris Brunner at left wing for the u19s this season will be Ousmane Diallo. Diallo chose Dortmund over Bayern Munich and Real Madrid and after a season with the u17s has been promoted to the u19s and will hope to join the senior side sooner than later. Diallo was largely held out of the u19s by Cole Campbell and Paris Brunner this past season but has taken the starting role this season and looks to have made big strides forward. 

Diallo this past season saw his time split between the u17s and u19s but underwhelmed for the u19s with 2 goals in almost 400 minutes but still showed his potential. Diallo, when playing in his own age group, dominated with 10 goal contributions across his nearly 1,000 minutes. Diallo appears to have started to mature a bit physically this season standing at 1.81 meters or just under 6 foot, Diallo has some size and quickness to him that he didn’t show against older players last season. 

However, with his new size Diallo looks ready to compete against the u19s despite still being just 17. Diallo has done so this season with 2 goals and 2 assists in 245 minutes so far. This creative output matches Diallo’s creative output from the u17s across all his league minutes.

While it is still early in the campaign and Diallo has yet to play against top academies, his level of dominance is something to keep an eye on. Even if Diallo can’t sustain this absurd level he could still possibly surpass Cole Campbell’s goal contribution every 87 minutes from last season. Diallo is currently at a goal contribution every 61 minutes and will be pushing to join the first team in January camp as Kjell Watjen, Campbell and Brunner all did last season. 

Diallo plays as a traditional winger and can play on both sides. With the departures of Paris Brunner, Jadon Sancho and Marco Reus, minutes have been cleared in attack and one obvious name in front of him in the academy has also left the club freeing Diallo to potentially debut this season.