Borussia Dortmund's U19s have commenced preparations for the spring round – with big ambitions and two new faces in their ranks. The U17s have also resumed training after a five-week winter break.

"Our objective is to reach the round of 16 of the UEFA Youth League and qualify for the final round of German Championship in the Bundesliga," said Mike Tullberg, the head coach of the U19s. His charges face the challenging prospect of an away trip to Edinburgh to face Scottish side Hibernian in the play-off round of Europe's primary youth competition (7 February). "It's going to be a difficult task. If we are to overcome it, we'll need to have a very good day," said Tullberg, as he warned his players about the "combative and strong Scottish team". 

BVB currently jointly top the Bundesliga table along with 1. FC Cologne. "We mustn't show any weakness in our four remaining matches," emphasised Tullberg. After all, Schalke 04 are only two points behind and in close pursuit. The Black & Yellows will resume their domestic campaign at home to RW Oberhausen on 19 February, before welcoming 1. FC Cologne to the Brackel Youth Performance Centre a week later (Saturday 25 February) for the table-topping clash.

To bolster the attacking options in the squad, the youth department brought forward two transfers planned for the summer over the winter break. Ukrainian midfielder Danilo Krevsun, 17, who has scored four goals in seven Bundesliga appearances since October, has signed from Preußen Münster, while BVB have additionally brought in wing forward Moussa Soumah, 15, from the Arminia Bielefeld U17s. He has scored 6 goals so far for the side second in the Bundesliga.

Work on chance conversion

"We created a similar number of chances in the first part of the season as we did in the previous season, but the quality of the shots at goal was not good. Only Julian Rijkhoff is completely on track with 10 goals. We'll work on that specifically and simplify our game. But above all, we're carrying a lot of positives and insights from the first part of the season with us into the preparation period," explained Tullberg.

Mika Lenninghaus, who rarely made it into the matchday squad, has left BVB. Due to injuries that have not yet healed, Samuel Bamba, William Rashidi and Kjell Wätjen have missed the first training sessions with the team. Jonah Husseck will also remain sidelined with a knee injury., Captain Nnamdi Collins will return to the U19 squad after having finished the U23 training camp. Paris Brunner and Luke Rahmann, who are currently away in Spain on a winter training camp with the Germany U17 national team, will also rejoin the training group in the coming weeks.

The first friendly fixture against Eintracht Frankfurt will take place in Limburg on Sunday (15 January, 13:00 CET), with additional fixtures to follow against VfL Wolfsburg (21 January), VfB Hilden (24 January) and FC Nordsjaelland (28 January), before it is down to business at Easter Road in Edinburgh on Tuesday 7 February.

U17 coach Gorges staying confident

The U17s have also recommenced training following a five-week winter break. "We want to do our homework and be successful in our remaining three matches in the Bundesliga," said coach Carsten Gorges, as he looked ahead. 

Although the gap to league leaders Schalke 04 and second-placed Arminia Bielefeld is already eight and six points respectively, Gorges is full of confidence: "If we win against RW Essen on 25 February, we will get closer because Schalke and Bielefeld are both in action against each other. Both have a difficult set of remaining fixtures," said the tactician, who has not given up hope of qualifying for the final round of the German Championship.

However, little has changed with regard to the difficult personnel situation. Paris Brunner and Luke Rahmann will stay with the U19s on a permanent basis, while Kjell Wätjen and Cole Campbell will now train regularly with the A-Juniors. Long-term injury absentees Alex Niziolek and Elias Benkara are still undergoing an individual fitness programme. On top of that, internationals Charles Herrmann, Almugera Kabar and Tyler Meiser are unavailable until 16 January as they are currently taking part in the winter training camp with the DFB U17 and U16 youth teams.

"We will change things slightly in tactical terms and want to improve upon our defending as well as our attacking play, individually and as a group," said Karsten Gorges, as he outlined the focal points in training over the coming weeks. 

The following friendlies are planned: away to VfL Bochum on 18 January, away to Werder Bremen on 21 January, away to Preußen Münster on 29 January, at home to FC Copenhagen on 4 February, at home to Nordsjaelland on 12 February and at home to 1. FC Cologne on 18 February. (wiwi)