Why Borussia Dortmund Are Your Second Favourite Team (Again)

Let me take you back to 2012. Tumblr was a big thing, everyone was wearing those shutter-shade sunglasses, I had Justin Bieber hair, and Borussia Dortmund were at their football hipster peak. We all knew someone who claimed they supported that Dortmund team, because they'd just won the Bundesliga, they had a 23-year-old Robert Lewandowski banging the goals in, and all of their players were absolutely class on FIFA Ultimate Team. Nostalgia is one hell of a drug. But what if I told you those glory days are making a return? I'm Joe Donoghue, this is Boys A Bit Special, and I'm here to tell you once again why young players are everything. So, get your black and yellow scarves out, fire up your PS3, Dortmund are back. That 2012 Dortmund team, led by Jurgen Klopp, was underpinned by several talented youngsters. Mario Götze only 20, Ilkay Gundogan 21, Marco Reus signed that summer from Mönchengladbach, Shinji Kagawa, Ivan Perisic, Neven Subotic and Mats Hummels all just 23. Well, at the time of recording, Dortmund have four wins from five in the Bundesliga this season and they're doing it all over again. We'll have to subtitle this up, but die Kinder sind die Zukunft. Borussia Dortmund are about to become everyone's second favourite team again. Why? Because Niko Kovac has looked at the 2012 playbook and said, yeah, we'll have a bit of that. Now, I'm not tipping Dortmund to win the league. No, that's very much Bayern Munich's to lose, and I don't think they will. I'm saying that everyone likes an underdog, if you can call Dortmund that. Then again, in Bundesliga terms, anyone who isn't Bayern practically is one. First things first, though, if you're new to football, weren't around in 2012, or simply weren't paying attention, I'll start at the beginning. Why were Dortmund regarded as the hipster club of the early 2010s? In summary, Jürgen Klopp, heavy metal football, the yellow wall, loud, authentic matchday atmospheres, affordable tickets, winning the league and cup double in 2012, going unbeaten in and topping a Champions League group which had Manchester City, Real Madrid and Ajax in it, and they did it all with that exciting young core. In the 2011-12 season, when they last won the Bundesliga, this was a team that lost three of its opening six matches, then went unbeaten across the next 28, winning 23 of those en route to the title. The rise also coincided perfectly with the explosion of football social media, blogging and tactical analysis, like early football Twitter. You had Dortmund's famous yellow kits, a rockstar manager in a tracksuit and a real organic success story. It was perfect for tacticians, footballing romantics and the rest. We dare you to say you didn't get a little bit swept up in it. Dortmund has always had a reputation for identifying, platforming and developing young talent. I mean, look at what playing for the club did for Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland. Could we honestly say they'd be the same players now without the exposure they had to high-level football at such a young age there? Probably not. Over the past decade, that trust in youth policy has ebbed and flowed, with some coaches prioritising more of a win-now philosophy, so in certain seasons there's been fewer opportunities for the young lads. But the good times are back, at least in my book they are. So how exactly are they doing it again? Well, let's have a look at Dortmund's summer transfer business. You won't find many clubs who signed seven players, five of which were teenagers. Konstantinos Karetsas and Jean-Gadu were the big ones, arriving for about 50 million euros altogether. Karetsas and Gadu had been playing in Europe's second-tier leagues, Belgium and Austria, that is to say the leagues just below the top five, still top divisions in their respective countries. Dortmund also brought in Ethan Nwaneri from Arsenal on loan, because when you've already signed four teenagers, what's one more? And not forgetting, there are also a number of youngsters who were already at the club, some of whom have been promoted to the senior squad this season. To name but a few, Luca Reggiani, Samuele Inacio and Jobe Bellingham, anyone? Let's get into the players a little bit more then. Karetzis to start. Konstantinos Karetzis is basically the Greek Ryan Cherki, or perhaps the Bundesliga Cherki. He's an 18-year-old Greek international and one of the Bundesliga's brightest prospects. The clip you're watching should be more than enough justification as to why that's the case. Karetzis was born in the Belgian city of Genk and at 15, still looking every bit his age, stepped into the spotlight with his hometown club's B team. Now an important thing to understand here is that young Genk, the B team, competed in Belgium's second tier against senior teams. So he was doing that at 15. He scored three goals in his first seven appearances for that side and played regularly throughout that season. Then, soon enough, began appearing for Genk's first team. By now, 16. The thing with Karetzis is he's always looking to try and create an angle for a shot or a pass at that top right-hand corner of the penalty area. He's tricky as well, and he will try to nutmeg you if it's on. But he's equally likely to switch the focus of an attack with a diagonal ball across the pitch, or dink a pass over defenders' heads to meet the oncoming run of a teammate, which I think shows decent football IQ. And if you didn't buy what I was saying earlier about him being a decent creator, the stats speak for themselves, because last season he got 14 assists. We're yet to see it in Germany, but I've got a feeling he's in the perfect place to demonstrate it. He's really got a bit of the Kagawa's about him. Before we carry on, a quick word from today's sponsor, Norton VPN. Whether you're working from a coffee shop, travelling or just browsing at home, you're constantly sending information across the internet. So what Norton VPN can do is add an extra layer of privacy by encrypting your internet connection and helping keep your online activity more private. It's simple to use, works across your everyday devices and you can connect to VPN servers in locations all around the world, whether you're at home or on the move. So if you want to add another layer of privacy and security to your everyday browsing, click the link in the description to find out more and see the latest Norton VPN offer. Right, back to the video. Onto Gadou then. A huge central defender. A proper unit, especially for his age. You won't find many 19 year olds with Paris Saint-Germain, Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund already on their CV. Nor are there many central defenders who are already standing at 6 foot 5 inches tall during their youth football days. Johan Gadou has already commanded 25 million pounds or 30 million euros in transfer fees before add-ons and bonuses in his career so far and scouts that I speak to insist that he'll be worth every penny. If you ask the sporting director of any top club to design their ideal centre-half, Gadou wouldn't be far off that prototype. He's a well-rounded, athletically formidable defender ready to leave his mark on the league. It's probably why he's played in the Club World Cup, Champions League and Europa League during that two-year stint in Salzburg. I will say though, Gadou can be a little bit heavy-handed at times, and has picked up his fair share of red cards, which, you know, is not ideal. Most recently he was sent off playing for France's under-21s when he attempted to dribble past an attacker, didn't have the speed to get beyond him, and his last man ended up dragging his opponent to the floor. But he's 19, and it was in an under-21s game. It's a good place to learn that lesson. Most of the time he's a picture of controlled aggression, something he'll need more and more the higher he goes. In addition to the players I've already spoken about and covered in depth, I think it's also worth mentioning the likes of Mathis Albert, who is just 17 and made his United States men's national team debut over the last international break. There's also Italy international Filippo Mane and summer signing Kau Prates, aged just 21 and 18 respectively. And as well, the really exciting Giannis Konstantelis, another Greek player who unfortunately did his ACL on his first Dortmund start after joining in the summer. The only thing stopping them? Same as before, Bayern. In 2012-13, Dortmund finished Champions League runners-up to Bayern, German Super Cup runners-up to Bayern, Bundesliga runners-up to Bayern, and were knocked out of the DFB-Pokal by… you get the picture. And it's not only on the pitch where Bayern were a spectre of the feast. How many players of that Dortmund team ended up at the perennial Bundesliga champs? Hummels, Lewandowski, Götze, to name a few. Others were tempted by big money elsewhere, and with the Premier League effectively operating as the Super League, especially in financial terms, I think Dortmund will struggle to hold on to every one as long as they did last time. But who knows? It's not quite the perfect storm of 2012-13 that saw Dortmund reach the Champions League final. But think about it. What happens if four or five of these players that I've mentioned all come of age at the same time? That's half a starting eleven of early to mid-twenty-somethings hitting their strides simultaneously. And how is that not the same as the days when Dortmund first emerged as football's culture club? Remember to hit like and subscribe for more young player focused football content on this channel so you can stay ahead of the curve and say you knew about them before they joined the big leagues. It's always a nice feeling. That's all from me for now, see you next time.