Southampton blow as £10m Julien Duranville joins Borussia Dortmund

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Belgian wonderkid Julien Duranville has completed a £10 million move to Borussia Dortmund after reportedly catching the eye of Premier League strugglers Southampton, via the Bundesliga club’s official website.

Romelu Lukaku, Youri Tielemans, Leander Dendoncker, Wout Faes, Jeremy Doku and AC Milan’s Alexis Saelemaekers have all gone onto rather big things since graduating from the esteemed Anderlecht academy. Teen sensation Duranville has certainly made quite the start as he looks to follow in their footsteps. 

In Dortmund, the Belgium youth star has joined the club perhaps best renowned across Europe for turning potential superstars into the finished article. See Jadon Sancho, Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland, to name but three. 

“We have been watching Julien for a long time,” admits BVB coach Edin Terzic, Duranville signing a long-term deal at the Signal Iduna Park. “He’s a highly talented winger who’s strong in one-on-ones, creative and has a lot of scoring potential.” 

Borussia Dortmund sign Julien Duranville from Anderlecht

According to FootMercato, Southampton were interested in Duranville. They, like Dortmund, have an excellent track record in youth development, luring a host of teenagers to St Mary’s in recent transfer windows. 

Sam Edozie, Juan Larios, Tino Livramento and Romeo Lavia have all joined Southampton since the summer of 2021. But Duranville is one the Saints will not get their mitts upon. 

“We are very pleased that Julien and his family have placed great trust in us, and that he is wearing our colours from now on,” says Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl.

“Julien is a fast, technically strong and creative winger in whom we see great potential. We would like to work together in the coming years to drive his development forward, as we have several times in the past with young talents.”

Dortmund will reportedly pay up to £10 million for Duranville.

Southampton’s pursuit of new attacking additions, meanwhile, goes on; the deadline now just days away. Nathan Jones’ EFL Cup semi-finalists have turned to Rennes’ Neymar-esque whizzkid Kamaldeen Sulemana after missing out on Nicolas Jackson, Terem Moffi and Bamba Dieng.