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Remember the 2012 Borussia Dortmund team? The one with Lewandowski, Götze, and Klopp? That era of brilliance is back, and this time, it's all about the next wave of young talent. Discover the players, the strategy, and why Dortmund is once again the club to watch.
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00:00Let me take you back to 2012. Tumblr was a big thing, everyone was wearing those shutter shade
00:05sunglasses, I had Justin Bieber hair and Borussia Dortmund were at their football hipster peak.
00:10We all knew someone who claimed they supported that Dortmund team because they'd just won the
00:15Bundesliga, they had a 23-year-old Robert Lewandowski banging the goals in and all of their players were
00:20absolutely class on FIFA Ultimate Team. Nostalgia is one hell of a drug. But what if I told you
00:25those glory days are making a return. I'm Joe Donoghue, this is Boys A Bit Special and I'm here
00:30to tell you once again why young players are everything. So get your black and yellow scarves
00:34out, fire up your PS3, Dortmund are back.
00:39That 2012 Dortmund team led by Jurgen Klopp was underpinned by several talented youngsters.
00:44Mario Goetze only 20, Ilkay Gundogan 21, Marco Reus signed that summer from Mönchengladbach,
00:50Shinji Kagawa, Ivan Perisic, Neven Subotic and Mats Hummels all just 23.
00:55Well at the time of recording Dortmund have four wins from five in the Bundesliga this season
00:59and they're doing it all over again. We'll have to subtitle this up but
01:03Die Kinder sind die Zukunft. Borussia Dortmund are about to become everyone's second favourite team
01:08again. Why? Because Niko Kovac has looked at the 2012 playbook and said yeah we'll have a bit of that.
01:14Now I'm not tipping Dortmund to win the league, no that's very much Bayern Munich's to lose
01:18and I don't think they will. I'm saying that everyone likes an underdog, if you can call
01:22Dortmund that. Then again in Bundesliga terms anyone who isn't Bayern practically is one.
01:27First things first though, if you're new to football, weren't around in 2012 or simply weren't
01:31paying attention, I'll start at the beginning. Why were Dortmund regarded as the hipster club of the
01:37early 2010s? In summary, Jurgen Klopp, heavy metal football, the yellow wall, loud authentic match the
01:44atmospheres, affordable tickets, winning the league and cup double in 2012, going unbeaten in and
01:49topping a Champions League group which had Manchester City, Real Madrid and Ajax in it,
01:54and they did it all with that exciting young core. In the 2011-12 season when they last won the
01:59Bundesliga, this was a team that lost three of its opening six matches, then went unbeaten across the
02:04next 28, winning 23 of those en route to the title. The rise also coincided perfectly with the explosion of
02:11football social media, blogging and tactical analysis like early football Twitter. You had
02:16Dortmund's famous yellow kits, a rockstar manager in a tracksuit and a real organic success story.
02:21It was perfect for tacticians, footballing romantics and the rest. We dare you to say you didn't get a
02:27little bit swept up in it. Dortmund has always had a reputation for identifying, platforming and
02:31developing young talent. I mean look at what playing for the club did for Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland.
02:37Could we honestly say they'd be the same players now without the exposure they had to high
02:41level football at such a young age there? Probably not. Over the past decade that trust in youth
02:46policy has ebbed and flowed, with some coaches prioritising more of a win now philosophy,
02:50so in certain seasons there's been fewer opportunities for the young lads. But the good times are back,
02:55at least in my book they are. So how exactly are they doing it again? Well let's have a look
03:00at
03:00Dortmund's summer transfer business. You won't find many clubs who signed seven players, five of which were
03:06teenagers. Konstantinos Koretsas and Joan Gadu were the big ones, arriving for about 50 million euros
03:11altogether. Koretsas and Gadu had been playing in Europe's second tier leagues, Belgium and Austria,
03:16that is to say the leagues just below the top five, still top divisions in their respective countries.
03:21Dortmund also brought in Ethan Weneri from Arsenal on loan, because when you've already signed four
03:26teenagers what's one more? And not forgetting there are also a number of youngsters who were already at the
03:30club, some of whom have been promoted to the senior squad this season. To name but a few, Luca Reggiani,
03:36Samuele Inasio and Joe Bellingham anyone? Let's get into the players a little bit more then,
03:41Koretsas to start. Konstantinos Koretsas is basically the Greek Ryan Scherke, or perhaps the Bundesliga
03:47Scherke. He's an 18 year old Greek international and one of the Bundesliga's brightest prospects.
03:52The clips you're watching should be more than enough justification as to why that's the case.
03:56Koretsas was born in the Belgian city of Genk, and at 15, still looking every bit his age,
04:01stepped into the spotlight with his hometown club's B team. Now an important thing to understand here
04:06is that young Genk, the B team, competed in Belgium's second tier against senior teams,
04:11so he was doing that at 15. He scored three goals in his first seven appearances for that side,
04:16and played regularly throughout that season, then soon enough began appearing for Genk's first team,
04:21by now 16. The thing with Koretsas is he's always looking to try and create an angle for a shot,
04:25or a pass at that top right-hand corner of the penalty area. He's tricky as well,
04:30and he will try to nutmeg you if it's on, but he's equally likely to switch the focus of an
04:35attack
04:35with a diagonal ball across the pitch, or dink a pass over defenders' heads to meet the oncoming run
04:40of a teammate, which I think shows decent football IQ. And if you didn't buy what I was saying earlier
04:45about him being a decent creator, the stats speak for themselves, because last season he got 14 assists.
04:50We're yet to see it in Germany, but I've got a feeling he's in the perfect place to demonstrate
04:55it. He's really got a bit of the cag I was about him. Before we carry on, a quick word
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05:28to find out more and see the latest Norton VPN offer. Right, back to the video. On to Gadu then.
05:34A huge central defender, a proper unit, especially for his age. You won't find many 19 year olds with
05:40Paris Saint-Germain, Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund already on their CV. Nor are there many
05:44central defenders who are already standing at six foot five inches tall during their youth football
05:49days. Johan Gadu has already commanded 25 million pounds or 30 million euros in transfer fees before
05:55add-ons and bonuses in his career so far. And scouts that I speak to insist that he'll be worth
06:00every
06:00penny. If you ask the sporting director of any top club to design their ideal centre half,
06:05Gadu wouldn't be far off that prototype. He's a well-rounded, athletically formidable defender,
06:10ready to leave his mark on the league. It's probably why he's played in the club world cup,
06:14Champions League and Europa League during that two-year stint in Salzburg. I will say though,
06:19Gadu can be a little bit heavy-handed at times and has picked up his fair share of red cards,
06:23which, you know, is not ideal. Most recently he was sent off playing for France's under-21s when
06:28he attempted to dribble past an attacker, didn't have the speed to get beyond him and his last man
06:32ended up dragging his opponent to the floor. But he's 19 and it was in an under-21s game. It's
06:38a good
06:38place to learn that lesson. Most of the time he's a picture of controlled aggression, something he'll need
06:43more and more the higher he goes. In addition to the players I've already spoken about and covered
06:47in depth, I think it's also worth mentioning the likes of Mathis Albert, who is just 17 and made his
06:52United States men's national team debut over the last international break. There's also Italy
06:56international Filippo Mane and summer signing Kawa Prates, aged just 21 and 18 respectively.
07:02And as well, the really exciting Giannis Constantelius, another Greek player who unfortunately did his ACL
07:08in his first Dortmund start after joining in the summer. The only thing stopping them? Same as
07:13before, Bayern. In 2012-13, Dortmund finished Champions League runners-up to Bayern, German Super
07:18Cup runners-up to Bayern, Bundesliga runners-up to Bayern and were knocked out of the DFB-Pokal by...
07:24you get the picture. And it's not only on the pitch where Bayern were a spectre of the feast. How
07:29many
07:29players of that Dortmund team ended up at the perennial Bundesliga champs? Hummels, Lewandowski,
07:34Goetze to name a few. Others were tempted by big money elsewhere and with the Premier League effectively
07:39operating as the Super League, especially in financial terms, I think Dortmund will struggle
07:43to hold on to every one as long as they did last time. But who knows? It's not quite the
07:49perfect storm
07:49of 2012-13 that saw Dortmund reach the Champions League final, but think about it. What happens if
07:54four or five of these players that I've mentioned all come of age at the same time? That's half a
07:59starting
08:00eleven of early to mid-twenty-somethings hitting their strides simultaneously. And how is that not
08:04the same as the days when Dortmund first emerged as football's culture club? Remember to hit like
08:09and subscribe for more young player-focused football content on this channel so you can stay ahead of
08:14the curve and say you knew about them before they joined the big leagues. It's always a nice feeling.
08:18That's all from me for now. See you next time.
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