Chelsea transfer target Youssoufa Moukoko has issued a fiery riposte to claims that he has turned down a big-money new deal at Borussia Dortmund.
The teenage frontman, who went to the World Cup with Germany, is out of contract at Signal Iduna Park at the end of the season and is free to talk to overseas suitors regarding a summer deal when the January window opens next week.
Dortmund are desperate not to lose one of European football’s most exciting young attacking talents and a heralded graduate of their prolific youth academy, though an ongoing contract stand-off has led to much uncertainty over his future.
Reports from Germany over recent days suggested that the Bundesliga giants had made a final offer to Moukoko worth around €6million-per-season, said to have been rejected as he held out for a more significant pay hike.
However, the 18-year-old has now vehemently shot down such speculation, dismissing it as “lies” and insisting he remains focused on excelling for Dortmund over the second half of busy campaign.
“A little about myself – please don’t believe everything that’s in the newspaper! I know it’s all part of the football business now, but even though I’m still young, I don’t let myself be pressured into making decisions about my future. I will never accept a lie like that about me,” he wrote on Instagram.
“My full focus is on the second half of the season and it’s about Borussia Dortmund. No player is bigger than the club. I am not and will never be bigger than the club and in the end I’m only a small part of it. It’s really sad that you can bring something like that out into the world these days so that you have the wrong image of me, it’s really, really a shame because I’m still shocked by the report.”
While Moukoko has excelled for Dortmund in the absence of Sebastien Haller this term, it remains to be seen if BVB could be willing to cash in on the forward in January if they are unable to agree a new deal.
Standard Sport understands that Chelsea are interested in the player after losing Armando Broja to a season-ending knee injury, with Bundesliga top scorer Christopher Nkunku not arriving from RB Leipzig until the summer and incoming Molde striker David Datro Fofana seen as a talent for the future.
Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Liverpool have all similarly been linked with Moukoko, who has scored 11 goals in 59 appearances for Dortmund since his senior debut as a replacement for Erling Haaland aged 16 in 2020, also earning two senior caps for Germany including a late World Cup cameo outing against Japan in Qatar.
