Borussia Dortmund's restructuring: The winners and losers of Edin Terzic's departure

Winner: Youssoufa Moukoko

Starting with the younger of Dortmund’s two strikers, Youssouffa Moukoko clearly was not appreciated by Terzic despite his constant performances. With .76 Goals and assists per 90 across the last two campaigns Moukoko’s numbers are incredibly effective and a testament to his consistently good play while on the pitch. With Nuri Sahin one might think Moukoko would get more opportunities. Moukoko was allotted a mere 620 minutes this past season, which based on his performances is unbelievably low. There is also the chance that he could continue to face the same discrimination for his size that he dealt with under Terzic. This is not definite but when looking at the Strikers Sahin has used and most importantly signed this is seen clearly.

Sahin had former LA Galaxy and Schalke Academy player Haji Wright at Antalyaspor and following his departure, Sahin signed Adam Buksa  as his replacement. Both were highly successful in the league, with both providing upwards of 16 goal contributions per campaign. While Sahin was not the manager for the second half of Buksa’s campaign, the goal numbers for this pair is impressive and something Dortmund has not seen post Haaland.

In Moukoko's case, his height gives him a different profile to both. Buksa and Haji Wright are both comfortably over 6’ tall. It has to be said that both differ significantly from Fullkrug as well however, who is a true target forward who struggles with the ball at his feet and cannot run at defenders. Aside from his stature, Moukoko’s skillset is arguably more similar to that of both Wright and Buksa who are complete Forwards that can run in behind, are comfortable running with the ball and can also act as poachers.

For Moukoko to become first choice, he will need to continue showing an excellent understanding of space and his poacher’s instincts. Despite Sahin’s prior preference for bigger forwards, Moukoko will likely still have a significantly increased chance of setting his personal records for minutes and goals.