Borussia Dortmund gave 18-year-old Kjell Wätjen his first professional contract on Wednesday. Sports director Sebastian Kehl thinks highly of the junior national player.
He impressed in BVB’s youth team: Kjell Wätjen received a professional contract on Wednesday. imago images
It had become apparent, and it has been official since Wednesday: Kjell Wätjen will stay with Borussia Dortmund, the 18-year-old has signed a professional contract until June 30, 2028.
“Kjell has developed greatly in recent years and absolutely deserves this step,” BVB sports director Sebastian Kehl is quoted as saying: “In our U19 team, he attracted attention with strong performances in both the Bundesliga and the UEFA Youth League and continually worked his way up to the professional squad. We don’t see his development coming to an end yet.”
When it comes to Wätjen, the Westphalians can confidently speak of a homegrown product. At an Easter holiday course ten years ago, the midfield driver drew attention to himself, accepted the challenge in Dortmund’s NLZ and even played his way into the focus of the German junior national teams.
In June 2023, Wätjen was crowned European champion with the German U-17 national team. At the tournament in Hungary, the Dortmund player played four times and scored the goal to make it 3-0 at the end of the group phase against Scotland. Since the 2024 winter training camp in Marbella, Wätjen has been a regular part of BVB head coach Edin Terzic’s training group.
Kehl: “We trust him to establish himself among our professionals”
“We are very pleased that we as a club have managed to develop Kjell from an early age to this point thanks to the very good work in our NLZ,” says Kehl: “Now the first steps in men’s football follow, and We definitely trust Kjell to establish himself among our professionals with his qualities and personality.”
To date, Wätjen has been in Borussia’s professional squad three times, but was neither used in the Bundesliga against Heidenheim (0-0) nor in the CL duels with Eindhoven (1-1, 2-0). “Although I’m still very young, I’ve been able to play for the club I love for many years – and I’m really keen to be able to do so with the big players in the next few years,” admits Wätjen.
2024-03-27 15:53:43
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