Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund may be the ideal destination for reported £25 million Leeds United target Noah Okafor, the forward’s former Basel coach Alexander Frei tells Sport Bild.
Now, you can see where Frei is coming from. Is there a finer finishing school anywhere for a talented young forward looking to reach a whole new level?
Should Okafor swap Red Bull Salzburg for Dortmund, he’d be following in the footsteps of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Robert Lewandowski, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marco Reus, Gio Reyna and Erling Haaland after all.
“I was his coach at FC Basel in the U18s,” Frei recalls. “Back then, there weren’t many people who bet on Noah despite his talent. He had too much nonsense in his head, didn’t understand what football demands.
“I talked to him a lot and explained to him: ‘You decide where your journey goes. Do what I tell you; how to behave as a young player, how to train, how to prepare and how to eat. Then, you’re going to have a great career.
“’Otherwise you’ll be constantly injured and end up playing in Swiss second tier.’ Noah understood and implemented (my ideas).”
Leeds United like Red Bull Salzburg forward Noah Okafor
With seven goals in 12 games this season, including a wonderful solo effort against AC Milan in the Champions League and a late equaliser at Chelsea, the penny certainly seems to have dropped as far as Okafor is concerned.
Leeds United, having already lured Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen away from the Austrian Bundesliga giants, are reportedly eyeing up a January deal for another given his wings by Red Bull. Okafor, the striker’s agent says, is likely to cost around £25 million.
But Frei feels that the Bundesliga, Dortmund in particular, would be the natural next step in the 22-year-old’s development.
“The next step is extremely important,” adds the Swiss legend, who himself donned the yellow-and-black of Dortmund between 2006 and 2009.
“Noah needs to choose a club that suits his style of play. That could well be the case at BVB.”
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