Newcastle United 'plot' bold move for Borussia Dortmund prodigy tipped to become ‘new Kylian Mbappe’

Newcastle United have emerged as one of the leading contenders to sign Belgian prodigy Julien Duranville from former Champions League rivals Borussia Dortmund, according to reports. The Magpies are in the market to strengthen their wide attacking options in January and have taken a liking to Duranville, who has proven he is capable of playing on either side of the attack to great effect.

Duranville has long been touted as one of Europe’s most promising young players. Vincent Kompany gave him his debut at local club Anderlecht in 2022 when he was just 16 and he went on to make a total of six appearances for the Belgian giants before earning himself a move to Borussia Dortmund in January 2023.

The pacey winger, who was named in the Guardian’s 2023 Next Generation List, is described by the outlet as someone with pace and skill in the same bracket as Kylian Mbappe and Jeremy Doku. Injuries have so far limited Duranville to just six appearances across all competitions since his move to Borussia Dortmund.

However, his potential has still done enough to earn him two caps for the Belgian national team, with his most recent outing coming in Israel in a 3-1 Nations League victory in September. Dortmund boss Nuri Sahin has high hopes for the winger despite his struggles with injuries and claims he is incredibly exciting to watch.

During his pre-match press conference, he explained: "Every time the boy is on the training pitch, it's fun to watch. He has already shown signs of his potential, the question is whether he can stay healthy. Then he'll make his mark. He is simply too good. He has become more stable and more mature mentally. Now it's up to all of us to make sure that he can play every three days."

Football Transfers understands that Newcastle are very keen to bring Duranville to St James’ Park as they attempt to bolster their wide attacking options. Newcastle have already built up a strong reputation for developing young talents such as Lewis Miley, Lewis Hall and Anthony Gordon.

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They have also proven they are not afraid to take a punt on a player who has had injury difficulties in the past as they proved with Tino Livramento. Eddie Howe told Newcastle World reporter Charlie Bennett, that Livramento’s injury record was part of the reason, he was accessible and admitted that it was a gamble the club had to take, he said: “There’s always an element of risk about every signing. You could sign a player that’s never been injured before, you could take a risk and he could get injured on the first day of training.

“Obviously the risk is heightened if someone is coming off the back of a long term injury as Tino had. But that was part of the reason we were in a position to sign him because he had already had that long-term injury, if he hadn’t he wouldn’t have been attainable.”

This factor could also make Duranville more affordable to Newcastle although they are not alone in their pursuit of the 18-year-old with former manager Vincent Kompany also showing interest in bringing the star to Bayern Munich.