Learning from past mistakes
For all the scouting success stories that BVB is known for (Blaszczykowski, Kagawa, Gündogan, Pulisic, just to name a few), there are also some less talked about stories of them getting it wrong.
Three names that immediately come to mind are: Mikel Merino, Alexander Isak, and Sergio Gomez.
All three came to Dortmund as foreign prospects and all three developed into quality first-team players... just not with Dortmund. None of them played at the Signal Iduna Park for longer than 3 seasons and only received playing time sporadically while they were there.
Fast forward a couple of years: Mikel Merino is a World Cup winner. Alex Isak is one of the most feared center forwards in the Premier League, and Sergio Gomez is a solid contributor for Real Sociedad in LaLiga. All three would be massive boosts for the current BVB squad.
Of course, there is no guarantee that their careers would've turned out the same way had they stayed (note the previous slide). But they are definitely lessons on "pulling the plug" prematurely when it comes to player development. Something that could repeat itself with Couto if they let him go now.
