Transfer Questions Answered Part 3: Youth Movement

In our third and final installment of Transfer Questions Answered, we dig deeper at Dortmund's youth emphasis. There's been a lot of news about young talent coming to Germany, but news of some young stars leaving BVB cannot be ignored.

We touched upon Ousmane Dembele in the last article, and he is probably the most notable starlet on the Dortmund radar. Despite being only 18, he has already proven himself in the French Ligue 1 and has been regarded as one of the most highly touted targets this summer.

But there are quite a few other youth targets that have spiked the attention of Dortmund. Timo Werner of VfB Stuttgart, Youri Tielemans of Anderlecht, Oleksandr Zinchenko of FC Ufa, and Oliver Torres from Atletico Madrid are the four most notable priorities for BVB.

Looking first at the domestic target from relegation-threatened Stuttgart: Timo Werner. The center forward has captured the interest of VfL Wolfsburg, RB Leipzig, and Dortmund over the past few months. With Stuttgart sitting in 17th place, two points away from safety, relegation could force Stuttgart to sell a few of its big-name players.

Wolfsburg, like Dortmund, are looking to add depth at forward while Leipzig, the team possibly replacing Stuttgart next season, are looking to add players with top-flight experience. Stuttgart have detailed how important Werner is to the team repeatedly. However, a 20 million euro bid could be enough to snatch the German youngster.

More recently, Oleksandr Zinchenko has been widely thought to be switching to Dortmund. The earliest reports suggested it was "all but finished." But Zinchenko's agent said otherwise, noting that other offers are being considered.

The one spoiler for Dortmund getting Zinchenko will be Pep Guardiola. The new boss of Manchester City is extremely intrigued by the Ukrainian youngster, and is looking to make a bid for him this summer. Zinchenko, who has been compared to Kevin De Bruyne, paid a visit to Dortmund, but might be lured away by a hefty bid from Man City.

Two others who have been linked to Dortmund are Tielemans and Torres. The latter, who was originally thought to have moved to Dortmund in January, has captured the interest of AS Roma as well. The Italian club might be looking to replace Miralem Pjanic if he leaves. But Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel has admired Torres and is preparing to make a 14 million euro bid for the Spanish youngster.

As for the former, Dortmund have already scouted a pair of youngster from Belgian club Genk, and have seen Tielemans as a better option. His services will likely run any suitor around 15 million euros and Dortmund are entering a competition with a host of European clubs to secure Tielemans' signature.

With those four being linked for a few weeks, new young stars are scouted by Dortmund everyday. Just this past week, Gabriel from FC Santos and Orel Mangala from Anderlecht B popped up on the Dortmund transfer radar. Gabriel would cost approximately 25 million euros, an especially high price for an inexperienced left wing playing in the Brazilian Serie A.

The same can be said about Mangala's inexperience, but BVB are looking to add him to the U19 squad to give him an extra year of development. With the success of Felix Passlack and Christian Pulisic on the U19 team, Mangala has already shown promising signs of stardom and, for a one million euro fee, could continue to improve at Dortmund. Reports even suggest that he could sign with BVB by the end of the week.

It's clear that Dortmund has already built an amazing youth foundation, but could, unfortunately, lose a couple of its brightest stars this summer.

Julian Weigl and Christian Pulisic have come into their own this season, and have earned the attention of various clubs throughout Europe. Signed from 1860 Munich last year, Weigl has been linked with moves to Arsenal and Barcelona over the past week.

Christian Pulisic has been even more widely scouted, getting looks from Liverpool, Manchester City, and Real Madrid as recently as last week. Both Weigl and Pulisic are not likely to leave, and with clubs already seeking their signatures, the duo could not only bring prominence to themselves and Dortmund, but are looking likely to be two of the biggest stars in the next five years.

At the moment, these are all just rumors and nothing official has been announced. But unlike news about Hummels or wingers, the youth movement is more exciting. The four possible incomers are just stepping into the light, and the quartet, along with Weigl and Pulisic, have still yet to play their best football. The future is looking very bright in Dortmund.

With that, we conclude our three-part series of Transfer Questions Answered. With the summer window coming up, stay with Fear the Wall for all the Dortmund transfer news and rumors.