German giants Borussia Dortmund are set to announce the signing of teenager defender Immanuel Pherai from AZ Alkmaar, once they receive clearance from FIFA.
The 16-year-old, who is represented by super-agent Mino Raiola, has inked a three-year deal with the Bundesliga outfit. BvB have spent reasonable money on recruiting young talents in recent seasons with Christian Pulisic, and Ousmane Dembele being identifiable examples, and Pherai is the next in line after he confirmed the agreement via azfanpage.nl, he said: “We reached an agreement yesterday. I will join BVB.”
Pherai has been designated as a defensive midfielder by trade, and he could be groomed into the BvB first-team sooner rather than later with former Ajax coach Peter Bosz having taken over the reins from the departed Thomas Tuchel. Bosz made it a point to give teenagers a chance in Amsterdam, and he named a side with average age of just 20 during the final game of the Eredivisie season.
Head of Dortmund’s academy Lars Ricken revealed Pherai’s agreement to ESPN, where he insisted that there is still a validation process with FIFA due to the involvement of an under-age player, he said: “We’ve reached an agreement in principle but since it’s a transfer of an underage player it still needs to be validated by FIFA.”
Swedish wonderkid Aleksander Isak was signed via similar procedure from AIK last winter, BvB are unwilling to take any risks considering the fact that the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have been punished for breaking rules protecting under-age players. Pherai, who has already represented the Netherlands at the Under-16 level, becomes Dortmund’s fourth signing of the transfer window after big names signings in Maximilian Philipp, Mahmoud Dahoud and Omer Toprak. The club are also on the cusp of signing Mario Balotelli once his contract expires with Nice this month.