Borussia Dortmund might be living under the shadow of Bayern Munich, but that could change in the near future.
Even though the club sits in the top four in the German Bundesliga standings, they are poised to take a quality jump soon. Their strategy of buying young players is paying off, and they currently have one of the most talented squads in Europe. After all, there’s a reason why they reached the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. But the best thing is that their future might be even brighter.
If we take a look at their roster, we can see Dortmund are loaded with youth. Some of their most important players aren’t even 25 years old yet, and they also have some of the most exciting young players in the world. Christian Pulisic, Ousmane Dembele, Julian Weigl are regular starters already. And players like Mikel Merino, Marc Bartra and Felix Passlack are on the right path to earn bigger roles on the team.
We haven’t even mentioned youngsters such as Alexander Isak and Emre Mor, easily two of the most talented U21 forwards in Europe right now. As if that wasn’t enough, they already signed Mahmoud Dahoud for next season. The Monchengladbach midfielder could be the perfect replacement for Ilkay Gundongan, who now plays for Manchester City.
Want more? Roman Burki is 26 years old, so he’s pretty young for a goalkeeper. Raphaël Guerreiro, Matthias Ginter, Mario Götze and Andre Schürrle are all 26 or younger. And top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is 27, so he has his best years ahead of him yet. The “veterans” on this team would be Shinji Kagawa (28), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (28) and Marcel Schmelzer (29). Incredible as it sounds, neither of these players are in their prime yet.
So what does Dortmund need to become a super team? Basically they can challenge the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona right now. The talent and the management is there. They also have one of the most promising head coaches in Europe in Thomas Tuchel. So it seems they would only need one or two world-class players – perhaps a center back and a midfielder – to take the leap. Yes, they are that good.
Looking towards the future, things get even better for the club. Players like Dembele, Isak and Pulisic have world-class potential written all over them. And they already have an established star such as Marco Reus who, by the way, is only 27. The amount of talent on the team is simply incredible.
They might not win a title this season or the next one, but make no mistake. They have a bright future, and they should become one of the top teams in the world sooner than later.