On Thursday afternoon, it was reported that Borussia Dortmund had met the conditions within their loan deal for Yan Couto to make the Brazilian’s transfer from Manchester City permanent.
It had previously been reported that the conditions in Couto’s deal were easy for Dortmund to meet, and it is now understood that they have already been achieved just two months into the season.
Therefore, the 22-year-old will become a permanent member of the Dortmund squad for a fee of €24 million, and he is expected to sign a five-year deal at the club, ensuring he remains at the Westfalenstadion until 2029.
In an interview with Sky Germany, Couto expressed his excitement about playing for Die Schwarzgelben and how he has viewed his time at the club so far:
“There are many Brazilians who have played here. I think ten or eleven. I am one of them. I want to become a legend here too. I will do everything I can to achieve that. The truth is that the Brazilians who have played here have always had a strong connection, and people always remember them.”
“It’s just a battle against myself—to train well, to play well, to work together with my teammates here, to get the best out of myself. And they haven’t seen the best version of me here yet. I want to show my full potential, and I’m not there yet. I’m not in top shape, but I want to. If that works, it will work with the national team too.”
As well as this, the right-back offered an insight into Dortmund’s struggles so far this season:
“There are simply a lot of new puzzle pieces in the team that don’t just fit together overnight. I’m one of them too. We don’t have the perfect connection at the moment. So we have to train every day and improve. Unfortunately, I don’t know my colleagues’ running routes that well yet; I don’t know their style exactly yet.”
“We have to concede fewer goals and score more goals. And yes, we learnt from the Stuttgart game that something like that won’t happen again and that we have to improve from game to game. And that’s what we’re doing. We already have an idea of how the coach plays, and now we have to put it into practice to get better and win more games. That’s what we want—to have the consistency needed to win every game.”
After the latest round of intentional fixtures, Dortmund will resume Bundesliga action at home to St. Pauli, where they will hope to begin to stabilise their season—something that Couto could play a key role in delivering.
GGFN | Will Shopland
