The Daily Bee: Borussia Dortmund Considering Sending Youssoufa Moukoko out on Loan

Happy Friday, everyone! There’s only one more day until the international break ends, and we can all officially go back to complaining about every minute detail that goes wrong during each BVB game.

Naturally, it wouldn’t be a return to Borussia Dortmund football without an injury update. The most recent reports are that Dan-Axel Zagadou, who has only just recently recovered from a lengthy post knee surgery rehab stint, has suffered a setback, according to Ruhr Nachrichten, a pinch in his thigh muscle. He already missed a practice match in training, and he now may be left out of the squad for tomorrow’s game against Stuttgart, too.

Youssoufa Moukoko to go out on loan?

There are very few, if any, strikers in the world who would be locks to make a starting XI over Erling Haaland. It’s no surprise, then, that at the young age of 16 (turning 17 on Sunday, by the way), Moukoko is having trouble breaking into the squad.

While BVB will want to keep Moukoko through the rest of the season, likely because the injury crisis has given every healthy player an outsized role in the squad. However, according to WAZ, the club will probably want to loan him out over the summer. You have to figure that if the club is willing to loan out Moukoko, they must feel pretty confident about retaining Haaland, or replacing him with another striker like Adeyemi.

More Vaccination Rules in Germany?

With the recent COVID scare that afflicted the German National Team, and a general increase in cases across Germany, the question of what to do about unvaccinated players has risen in prominence.

A significant group of players including Bayern Munich’s Serge Gnabry, Joshua Kimmich, and Jamal Musiala are all unvaccinated, and will have to follow a separate set of restrictions while traveling with the team; in fact, Kimmich will have to miss Bayern’s game this weekend because he came into contact with someone who tested positive, and must quarantine.

According to RN, the state government of North-Rhine Westphalia is having internal discussions regarding whether vaccination restrictions for fans would extend to players. This is because restrictions for fans to enter certain stadiums fall under so-called “2G” restrictions, meaning to enter you must either show proof of vaccination or proof of a recovery from COVID within the last six months (for a further breakdown on Germany’s COVID restrictions and terminology, this DW article does a nice job).

It’s still undecided whether players will be barred from taking the pitch unless vaccinated, but hopefully if they are, that it motivates them to get the jab.

The Daily Buzz

Do you think that loaning out Moukoko would be the right decision?