The U19s are within striking distance of the league leaders, the U17s remain unbeaten after nine games and top the table: Borussia Dortmund's Bundesliga junior teams are again among the best the West has to offer in the 2019/20. "It's brilliant that we have a handful of players of great individual class at BVB", youth team head coach Michael Skibbe draws a "generally satisfactory" balance during the international break.

Since July 1 Michael Skibbe has been in charge of the A-Juniors, who had experienced a somewhat stuttering start to the season. "Very up and down," said the 54-year-old about the season so far. As "highlights" he named the 2-1 win in the UEFA Youth League against FC Barcelona and the 6-1 triumph against Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. After a short unbeaten run, BVB has moved up to fourth place with 15 points, behind 1. FC Köln (19 points), Fortuna Düsseldorf and Borussia Mönchengladbach (both 16 points). The next big challenge awaits in the derby against Schalke 04 on Sunday, October 20, at the youth performance centre in Brackel (kick-off 11am).

In addition to striker Youssoufa Moukoko, who leads the Bundesliga scoring list with 15 goals, Skibbe especially singles out the positive development of Giovanni Reyna. The attacking midfielder moved from New York City FC to Dortmund in the summer and immediately won a regular spot in the team. "He adds a great deal to our attack and is a big win for our team," says Michael Skibbe about the US boy, who - like Immanuel Pherai - was already allowed to train with the first team pros and definitely left his mark.

Leading the way with 27 goals

The attacking flair of Reyna, Pherai, Moukoko, Alaa Bakir, Ansgar Knauff and Reda Khadra is the showpiece of the current German A junior champions, having scored 27 goals so far, significantly more than every other team. However, they have also conceded eleven goals at the other end. "Too many", Michael Skibbe complained: "We definitely have to improve our defensive work and we cannot allow opponents any chances to score from nothing." Luca Unbehaun will hopefully return in goal against Schalke. The young professional has been suffering from a knee injury since the spring but is aiming to make his comeback in the derby.

Sebastian Geppert's U17 side is exactly where the U19s want to finish come the end of the season, namely at the top of the table. The completely newly formed team have picked up 23 points in nine games, celebrating seven wins and only dropping points in draws against Schalke 04 (0-0) and 1. FC Köln (2-2). "We are in a very good position at the moment. For the moment, we will gather new strength and then go again on 19 October against Hennef, "Sebastian Geppert is pleased with a "nearly perfect season start".

Semic and Lütke-Frie in Germany U17 squad

The team has improved step by step, both technically and tactically, and has also become stronger in the tackle. Geppert has given game time to almost everyone of the lads and some have done their future prospects no harm at all. Like right-back Lion Semic for instance, who is part of the current German U17 national team squad. Even captain Dennis Lütke-Frie, who was recently sidelined with a muscle injury, has played his way into the Germany team. Semic and midfielder Öktan Gürpüz were used by Michael Skibbe in the opening UEFA Youth League games. Both of them especially stood out in the 2-1 win against Barcelona. Also included in the extended Germany u16 squad are Noah Mrosek, Nnamdi Collins, Farouk Cisse and Samuel Bamba.

Tekin Gencoglu managed a satisfying comeback. The attacker is getting better and better after a fractured fibula led to a six-month absence through injury. Together with centre-back Colin Kleine-Bekel he occupies third place in the internal scorer list with four goals behind Ken Mata and Bradley Fink (both with 5). Although Youssoufa Moukoko has scored more than half of all Borussia goals in the past two seasons, the 33 goals scored this season have been spread around several different players. "We have become more unpredictable," Sebastian Geppert is pleased with the overall development of the team, which however is still far from finished.

U14, U15 and U16 youth teams “on course”

This same learning curve also applies to the younger teams. Marco Lehmann’s newly formed U16 side slipped to two unnecessary defeats in the U17 Westfalenliga against TSG Sprockhövel and VfL Bochum - currently sitting in fourth place in the table with nine points behind SC Paderborn and Schalke 04 (both 13 points) and Sprockhövel (10) However, the u16s will definitely improve and Marco Lehmann put their goals into perspective: "The U16s find themselves in a genuine training year. Every player is given playing time in order to recommend himself for the U17s in the 2020/21 season. If we win doing this at the same time - all the better. "Peter Wazinski's U15 team asserted itself, as did the U14s trained by Karsten Gorges, among the leading group of teams in the Regionalliga West.

"It will be difficult, if not nigh on impossible, to be as successful again," said youth team coordinator Lars Ricken following the 2018/19 season. While Borussia's rivals have seriously upped their game over the summer, to win every one of the league titles in each of the different age-groups, they will have to find a way past BVB. And that is an excellent mid-term report.

Wilfried Wittke