Long-time Liverpool wonderkid target 'pushing for January move'
Tom Weber
- 20 Oct 2023 02:08 CDT
- 4 min read
Long-time Liverpool target Youssoufa Moukoko is pushing for a January loan, according to a report.
The Borussia Dortmund wonderkid has failed to properly kick on after his spectacular emergence. Having absolutely annihilated every goalscoring record at the German youth level, Moukoko made his first-team debut just a day after his 16th birthday, and he would go on to break several age-related records too.
Since then, however, things haven't panned out as expected. Many believed that the hype would eventually subside and that it would take some time for Moukoko to properly find his feet in senior football, but few would have expected him to still be largely on the outside looking in several years after bursting onto the scene.
READ: The new Sancho? Germany's biggest wonderkid SUSPENDED
Forced into the Dortmund side last season because of Sebastian Haller's cancer diagnosis and Anthony Modeste's being, well, Anthony Modeste, Moukoko didn't look out of place but he also didn't impress as much as BVB fans would have hoped. This season, it has become clear that head coach Edin Terzic does not fully trust the still-only-18-year-old to be a striker who can lead the line for a title challenger.
January loan
With Dortmund having signed last season's Bundesliga top scorer Niclas Füllkrug in the summer, Moukoko has seen his game time diminish dramatically this term, not making a single league start thus far.
A January loan move appears to be the ideal solution for him, and he seems to concur. According to 90min, the young striker will push for a temporary exit in the winter in a bid to get game time and play his way into Julian Nagelsmann's thinking for Euro 2024 on home soil.
While long-term admirers Liverpool do not seem to be a realistic landing spot, the report mentions that Brentford and Wolves are potential destinations, with the player's camp hoping that a desperate Big Six side - perhaps Chelsea - could make a move.
READ: Five breakout stars in Europe this season
There are also several options in France and Italy, but it is hard to imagine the 18-year-old leaving Germany in the winter. A move to a Bundesliga side that is struggling for goals like Eintracht Frankfurt or FC Köln appears to be a more realistic option, while even a second-division loan can't be ruled out.
A two-year stint in the 2. Bundesliga did wonders for Hoffenheim youngster Maximilian Beier, for example. The youngster has five goals in seven top-flight appearances now back at Hoffenheim and has been considered by Nagelsmann. This could be a path followed by Moukoko.
