German club Borussia Mönchengladbach have announced the signing of 18-year-old German-born Ghanaian old former Ghana coach Charles Akonnor’s son Charles Herrmann from Borussia Dortmund.
Sportsworldghana.com understands that, Borussia Dortmund held talks to extend Herrmann’s contract, and Werder Bremen were also interested. However, the young promising attacker, opted to join Borussia Mönchengladbach. He will hope to take the next steps in his development and make the step up to the first-team with the Foals in the coming months.
“We are pleased that Charles Herrmann has decided to join us. He is a young, talented player who has the potential for higher tasks. But first he has to arrive here. We will give him the opportunities and the time to develop,” said Borussia’s sporting director Roland Virkus.
“We wanted to convince Charles to join us four years ago. We are very pleased that he has now decided to join Borussia Mönchengladbach a few years later – even though there were some national and international interested parties for him. He is with the German U17 national team and has recently shown what qualities he can bring to the pitch, especially at the U17 World Cup. He has a good left foot, is strong in dribbling and also creates a goal threat again and again with his dynamism,” added Mirko Sandmöller, Borussia’s director of the youth academy.
Herrmann moved to Dortmund from Hannover 96 four years ago. In his second and third seasons, the winger made 23 appearances for BVB’s U17s in the B-Junioren-Bundesliga West (3 goals), three League Cup West games and four games in the DFB special round (1 goal).
Last season, the 18-year-old made 25 competitive appearances (5 goals) for the Black and Yellows: 16 times in the West Division of the U19 Bundesliga, five times in the UEFA Youth League, once in the DFB Cup of the A-Juniors and three times in the U19 Bundesliga finals. In the semi-finals of the German championship against Hertha BSC, Herrmann was substituted in both games and scored a goal. In the 3-1 defeat against TSG Hoffenheim (3-1), the right winger was in the starting line-up and played 68 minutes.
Herrmann played ten games for the German U16 team (1 goal), and even 19 games (6 goals) for the German U17 youth team. Last summer, the attacker took part in the U17 European Championship in Hungary and celebrated winning the title with the DFB juniors.
The son of ex-professional Charles Akonnor played in all six games, five of them from the start. Herrmann contributed a goal in the 5-3 win against Poland in the semi-finals.
The 18-year-old was also part of the DFB squad at the U17 World Cup in Indonesia in December and won the World Cup with his team. Hermann was used in five of the seven tournament games. In the 3-2 win in the round of 16 against the USA, he scored from a free kick.
