The other day it was reported that Newcastle were in the mix to sign talented 18-year-old German international Youssoufa Moukoko from Borussia Dortmund.
It was alleged that Newcastle had offered the youngster a bumper verbal contract to join Newcastle when his current deal at Dortmund expires in the summer.
Now it appears that all may not be as it seems with the exciting forward.
It seems that a birth certificate showing his date of birth as 2020 has been discovered in Germany meaning that Moukoko is actually 22 and not 18 as he’s led everyone to believe.
This is a common thing among African players as they tend to lie about their age to increase their value. If you remember we had it with Obafemi Martins, he even had his own chant based on his age confusion.
We also had Seydou Doumbia on loan who was clearly in his sixties when he was on our books.
The battle rages on around Moukoko’s real age as Borussia Dortmund insist they have his age right at 18 and all the paperwork they have supports it, however, there are many red flags suggesting otherwise, not just the unearthed birth certificate. It is alleged that several of Moukoko’s partners have been older than him. While The Mirror reports: “The issue of age fraud has been thrust into the spotlight due to the issues in Cameroonian football. The African nation’s under-17 side were preparing to play Central African qualifying games in the Nations Cup this month when it emerged that 21 of the 30-strong squad failed age tests. Several players were called up as a result, but 11 of them were also found to be overage.”
It now remains to be seen how this affects Newcastle’s interest if at all … and if indeed there was any to begin with.
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Remember ‘ Fenidi George..
He must have been 105 when he played in the world cup.