Clubs chasing the Borussia Dortmund star Youssoufa Moukoko have been put on alert by information that has appeared in Germany according to which the striker is not 18 years old but 22.
Newcastle, Chelsea and Barcelona are all tracking Moukoko, a Germany international born in Cameroon who is out of contract with Borussia at the end of the season.
The clubs want him free because he is young with bags of potential, but he may not be a pearl of future if he is already more developed as a player than previously thought.
Moukoko was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and moved to Germany in 2014, where he was adopted.
It has now been claimed in Germany that a birth certificate dated 2000 bearing the name Yousouffa Mohamadou and attributed to Dortmund striker Moukoko was discovered in 2022.
Austrian news outlet 'Laola1' details claims that Moukoko's adoptive father sent the alleged discovered birth certificate to a journalist.
The player's adoption emerged in 2022, but an investigation into age fraud in Cameroon is now alleged to have raised questions about the legitimacy of Moukoko being 18.
It is claimed that further doubts were raised due to Moukoko allegedly having girlfriends significantly older than him in his early teenage years.
Last week, Cameroon's under-17 team were preparing to play Central Africa's qualifying matches at this month's Nations Cup when it was discovered that 21 of the 30 squad members failed age tests.
Coach Jean Pierre Fiala quickly recruited new players but, in a further humiliation, 11 of those brought in were also found to be overage.
Samuel Eto'o, who is president of Cameroonian football's governing body Fecafoot, called for all players selected for the youth team to undergo MRI tests to determine their age in an attempt to address the growing problem of age fraud in the country.
Age fraud has been a long-standing concern for African football, with many of its international successes at youth level marred by accusations of overage players.
Accusations have been made regularly, but there have apparently been few attempts to investigate it by the authorities.
Cameroon was forced to find 30 players after 32 also failed MRI tests that had been ordered by the president of the country's football association, Eto'o.
In 2017, the German FA emphatically denied any illegitimacy towards the Moukoko's documentation, which lists his date of birth as November 20, 2004.
"The DFB has already had a number of intensive discussions with Borussia Dortmund at various levels," it said in a statement to Bild at the time.
"At the DFB's request for careful consideration of the facts, Borussia Dortmund officials always point out the authenticity of the papers and documents, which are also known to the DFB.
"Therefore, there is no doubt about the accuracy of the player's age. In this matter, the DFB relies on the details of the player's club of origin."
That same year, Timo Preus, Dortmund's Under-23 coach, told Spox: 'With Youssoufa, I can imagine that his age has only been guessed. Maybe he's actually a year or two older. But he certainly is not 17 years old. For him, that is very difficult. There's nothing to blame him for, the guy's not cheating or anything."
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Germany in 2023