Borussia Dortmund have completed the signing of Achraf Hakimi on a loan move from Real Madrid. The Morocco international will stay at the club until the end of 2019/2020 season.
Borussia Dortmund have officially confirmed the agreement made with Real Madrid to sign Achraf Hakimi on a loan deal with the immediate effect. Both clubs agreed for the loan move for the player valid for the next two seasons.
Achraf Akimi who climbed through the ranks of Real Madrid academy, made his debut for the first team under the reign of the former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane against Espanyol last season. Since then, the 19-year-old made 17 appearances for the Spanish club in all competitions scoring twice and setting up one goal in the process.
The Moroccan international may not have been able to establish himself as a regular for the Spanish side, but has cemented his spot in his national team as he started all three of Morocco’s games at the World Cup before they got eliminated in the group stage. The 19-year-old player has shown a lot of potential in the handful number of performances.
His brief stint at the club and international level saw Hakimi being regarded as one of the most promising young full-backs in the world. But, considering the competition with Dani Carvajal and Nacho to enter into the starting lineup of Los Blancos would bring the growth of the prodigy to a halt by not getting the adequate amount of chances.
Moreover, the arrival of Alvaro Odriozola to Real Madrid would further lower Hakimi down the pecking order. Thus, Real Madrid have preferred to send the 19-year-old to the Bundesliga club, in order to achieve regular first-team football.
Die Schwarzgelben certainly needed to add the services of a player like Hakimi, as Lukasz Piszczek has already entered the final phase of his career and the options of others like Erik Durm are not reliable to the club. Further, Jeremy Toljan has played more at the left side of the defence than as a right-back last season. Hence, the club is seeking to rely on the 19-year-old fullback to rotate with the Polish international to bolster their defensive options.
Moreover, the news of the teenager’s loan deal came on the same day as they sold right-winger Andriy Yarmolenko to West Ham in a £17.5 million deal. This would be beneficial for the Moroccan youngster as he is also capable of playing there too. While, being rotated at the right side of defence with Piszczek, he could also be deployed in attack of the same flank to fulfill the void created since the departure of Yarmolenko, making him a viable signing for the team.
Meanwhile, after the signing of Hakimi, Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc praised the teenager in a statement “Achraf Hakimi is a young, very dynamic full-back who has played at the highest level at Real Madrid and in the Moroccan national team.” Hakimi reportedly will join the squad during the BVB’s USA tour next week.
At this age, Hakimi has a long career ahead of him, and with a team like Borussia Dortmund competing in one of the toughest leagues in the world, he certainly will improve massively while completing his two-year long learning spell in Germany. Hence, a bright future potentially beckons for him in the years to come.
