According to Sky Sports, Youssoufa Moukoko has made only 3 substitute appearances since joining Turkish club Galatasaray on loan, and his career is in steep decline.

Four years ago, Moukoko created a chance for Dortmund in a match against Bayern Munich with a perfectly timed pass. In a home match earlier that season, he also scored a crucial header in the Revierderby, helping Dortmund defeat Schalke.

Moukoko was just 17 at the time, yet he was already scoring in Europe's top competitions. A month later, he scored twice against Bochum from outside the penalty area, once with his left foot and once with his right.

These performances earned him a spot in Germany's World Cup squad that winter, and he was hailed as an extraordinary talent in football. But four years after scoring against Bayern, Moukoko couldn't even make Jürgen Klopp's 44-man squad.

Currently, Moukoko is stuck on the bench at a struggling Turkish club. Since joining Galatasaray on loan, he has made only 3 substitute appearances. Copenhagen remains his parent club, but he left after failing to score in the early stages of the new season in Denmark.

This is not the first transfer to disappoint Moukoko's expectations. In 2024, he left Dortmund to join Nice in search of more opportunities, scoring 2 goals in his Ligue 1 debut match, but those were his only goals of the season. Moukoko appears to have lost his way.

There are various theories about this, some quite controversial. The most controversial claim comes from Der Spiegel, which reported that Moukoko was adopted by his foster father, Joseph, and is actually 4 years older than the birthdate on his official documents.

Joseph denied this at the time, but later appeared to confirm it in a 2024 documentary. Moukoko has never publicly acknowledged this, and Dortmund stated there were no issues with his birthdate in official records.

However, even if this claim were true, there is currently no conclusive evidence, and at best it only partially explains the problem. Erling Haaland once called Moukoko "the most talented player in the world," and if he were actually older, his achievements might not have appeared as precocious as initially thought.

Yet this does not fully explain Moukoko's current difficulties. If he were truly 25 instead of 21, it would be even more puzzling to see a player who once shined in the Bundesliga now sidelined from European football at what should be his peak.

Dortmund offers a different explanation. When Sky Sports recently visited Dortmund's training ground, academy director Lars Ricken discussed Moukoko while speaking with a group of international journalists.

Ricken argued that this player, once praised by Samuel Eto'o and considered a potential successor to Messi, even publicly expressed his Ballon d'Or ambitions before joining Dortmund's first team, but his problems may have existed from the beginning.

Ricken said: "If I had a Moukoko in the academy now, what we would observe is whether his playing style in youth teams could translate to the first-team environment."

He continued: "Moukoko could score 50 to 60 goals per season in the youth teams. But if you look at how he scored those goals, nearly half came from him receiving the ball in midfield and dribbling past opponents himself. This style of play certainly cannot directly transfer to the first team."

Ricken believes the issue is not that Moukoko lacks talent, but that hardly any player in professional football can consistently score that way. He said: "For most players, this doesn't directly translate to the first team, perhaps with the exception of Messi."

However, Moukoko was breaking records at the time, and the club was reluctant to restrict him too much. Allowing talent to develop naturally was the prevailing philosophy. Looking back now, Ricken has a different view. He believes the club should have challenged and guided the player, and Moukoko might have developed differently.

Ricken said: "Considering the player's physical attributes, he won't be the tallest, nor the fastest, so you have to make a choice. Do you want him to maintain high productivity in the youth team now, or do you want him to develop a playing style better suited to his long-term development?"

This is always a core issue in young player development. Ricken said: "In this case, we clearly saw the challenges we faced. I think we need to decide not what is best for us now, but what is best for the player's long-term development."

He continued: "If I had a player like that now, I would consider his future position. He certainly won't just be a number 9 striker in the future, and he's not particularly suited to playing with his back to goal; that will never be his style of play."

Ricken added: "So perhaps a better approach would be to develop him as a number 10 or number 8, allowing him to operate in half-space areas. You might get fewer than 30 to 40 goals from him per season, but ultimately you could have a better player, and especially one better suited to himself."

During this crucial developmental phase, Moukoko lacked these experiences or the opportunity to learn the skills needed to operate in half-spaces. The chance to develop into a different type of striker was missed, and he could no longer continue scoring the goals he was best at.

As a result, Moukoko moved from Germany to France, then from Denmark to Turkey, constantly searching for the right environment. That search continues. Meanwhile, Dortmund is determined to learn from Moukoko's experience.

Ricken said: "Of course, we hope for a 100% success rate, but statistics show that's impossible, so there will always be stories like this." He also said: "We must learn from this story when making decisions for the next generation of players."

Under Ricken's leadership, Dortmund's youth academy system has undergone significant adjustments. But these changes will benefit the next Moukoko, not the current one. Today's Moukoko still hopes for a long career, but that goal against Bayern, the World Cup experience, and the Ballon d'Or ambitions now seem very distant.

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