Foreign footballHis passport states 2004 as the year of birth, but is Youssoufa Moukoko really 18? It is a theme that – not for the first time – raises questions. Moukoko, Dortmund’s top talent, may see a transfer through the nose as a result of the doubts.
His contract expires at the end of the season and he has no intention of renewing it. At Borussia Dortmund they feared the doomsday scenario that Youssoufa Moukoko would walk out this winter for a limited amount or next summer for free.
The German top talent, born in Cameroon, has been wild on the transfer market in recent weeks. Chelsea seemed to want to make serious work of his arrival, Newcastle and Barcelona were also mentioned concretely. But now the interest in Moukoko, who has 6 goals and 4 assists this season, has seriously cooled.
The reason: doubts whether he is really 18 years old. According to the Austrian ‘Laola1’, Moukoko’s birth certificate, officially born in 2004, was reported incorrectly at the time. And Moukoko would have seen the light of day four years earlier, which means that he may already be 22. A matter that Chelsea and co prefer to keep their hands off.
Dortmund would now like to make a move and have Moukoko sign a contract extension. The German media mentions a contract until 2027 and that Moukoko would no longer be reluctant to an extended stay at the Signal Iduna Park.
Age fraud is a major and current problem in Cameroon. Recently, the Cameroonian U17 was discredited because many players from the selection are said to be too old to play for the team. The doubts about Moukoko’s ‘real’ age are not new either. In 2017, the district office of Hamburg Nord seemed to take that away with Moukoko’s birth certificate, but the German ‘Der Spiegel’ later claimed to have seen another certificate that would indeed prove that Moukoko is older.
Uncertainty reigned then, just as it does today. And it now also seems to cost Moukoko his top transfer.
Read also: “Eleven new players who were selected for the Cameroon U17 selection also appear to be too old to play for the team”
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