Rising Borussia Dortmund star Youssoufa Moukoko has mentioned the names of Lukasz Piszczek, Emre Can and Julian Brandt as the first team players who are doing the most in helping him integrate into the first team.
The 15-year-old - who is dubbed the 'New Eto’o’ due to the prolific scoring nature of Cameroon legend Samuel Eto’o during his career, has made headlines for the right reasons because of such attributes.
Indeed, the Yaounde-born striker, who also holds a German passport, has scored more than 150 goals for Dortmund at youth level.
This prompted calls for the wonderkid to be included into the first team and with the DFB reducing age restrictions to make a senior debut from 17 to 16. Moukoko is now poised to feature in November.
He has already started training with the first team as pre-season has resumed ahead of the 2020-21 Bundesliga season kicking off on September 18.
"Lukasz Piszczek helped me a lot, but Emre Can and Julian Brandt also support me," Moukoko said.
“Piszczek pulled me straight to the side and said: “Just have fun, be yourself. And don't be afraid of us professionals.”
Piszczek has been at Dortmund since 2010, amassing more than 360 appearances for the club and winning back-to-back Bundesliga titles under current Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp in 2011 and 2012.
Can is a Germany international who played the previous season on loan from Juventus before his move to the Signal Iduna Park was made permanent this summer, while Brandt is a 31-time German international that joined Dortmund last summer after five years with Bayer Leverkusen.
Moukoko has been able to adjust to the difference of first-team training and that of the youth squad. He did admit he will remain with the Under-19s at the start of the new season with the hope of reaching 200 goals as he currently stands at a combined 183 strikes in the various youth categories.
“You don't have time to think about it anymore [first team training], you have to be very quick to act," he stated.
"I will use the time until November in the U19. I still want to break the 200-goal mark.”