Far too little performance for that exorbitant transfer fee! A BVB player is well on the way to becoming a transfer flop.

AFP Jochen Tittmar
May 25, 2026 12:13+06:00
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Far too little performance for that exorbitant transfer fee! A BVB player is well on the way to becoming a transfer flop

Bundesliga FEATURES Borussia Dortmund Y. Couto

Borussia Dortmund invested €25 million in Yan Couto. The Brazilian's second season was an improvement on his first, yet 2026 proved disastrous for the 23-year-old.

Comparing the final moments of Borussia Dortmund's season-opening and season-ending matches, it appears that Yan Couto finished the campaign on a positive note. Last August, in the 1–0 cup win at Essen, Kelsey Owusu had lashed out at the Brazilian's knee with his leg fully extended in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Manager Niko Kovac later described the challenge—which earned only a yellow card—as "almost an assault". Yet five days on, Couto was back to fitness and completed the full 90 minutes on the Bundesliga opening day.

Thirty-three matchdays later, the full-back again grabbed the spotlight in the 95th minute. In Bremen, he played a key role in sealing the 2-0 win. That strike took his season's tally to six goal contributions (three goals, three assists), a 500 per cent improvement on his underwhelming previous campaign.

After two seasons, however, his returns remain meagre given his €25 million transfer fee, and the label of "transfer flop" looms larger by the week.

Early in the campaign he strung together several starts and visibly sharpened his game, trimming the technical errors, improving his positioning and duelling prowess, and adding more physicality. He often drifted inside from the wing, and his crosses became more dangerous; five of his six goal contributions came in the first half of the campaign.

That, in essence, is Couto's predicament: goal contributions. The defender was unfortunate that his teammate Julian Ryerson enjoyed a career-best campaign in this regard. The Norwegian provided a total of 18 assists, and the "Ryerson cross, Serhou Guirassy goal" combination became BVB's signature move.

That is why Kovac commented on Couto a few weeks ago: "I'm very pleased with his development. Yan has had a lot more playing time this season than last year. Julian is performing really well, doing a great job in attack. He's provided the most assists. So it's painful for Yan, but all the more pleasing for me that I have two good lads on the right flank."

Yet Kovac has a habit of praising players before benching them for long stretches. Last winter he told Salih Özcan he would see far more action, yet the minutes never materialised. The pattern repeats with Couto: in 27 of the 72 matches Niko Kovac has overseen at BVB (37.5%), the young Portuguese has watched the full 90 from the bench—nine times already in 2026.

It has been, plain and simple, a disastrous season for the four-time international. Couto has started only four times, most recently at the end of February in the 2–3 defeat to FC Bayern. Since then, Kovac has given him a mere 41 minutes of playing time.

This lack of game time is clearly not in Couto's interests, and with Ryerson expected to occupy the right-back spot next term, a departure—however shaped—would surprise no one. As the Ruhr Nachrichten noted five weeks ago, his "future is uncertain".

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How comfortable does Yan Couto feel in Germany?

Questions remain over how comfortable Couto feels in Germany. During last summer's Club World Cup, the defender told Brazilian pay-TV channel SporTV: "I didn't expect moving to Germany to be so different—both personally and in dealing with the cold and the people, who tend to keep to themselves. It's not easy; it makes a big difference. That's why many Brazilians no longer go to Germany. It's a challenge for me; I have to deal with it."

That adjustment is easier when a player feels needed and can regularly do what he enjoys most, yet Couto has rarely been granted that opportunity in Dortmund so far. When the squad posed for a team photo in front of the South Stand after the final home win over Frankfurt and the farewells to Julian Brandt, Niklas Süle and Özcan, Couto was the only one who did not look at ease.

Yan Couto: Performance data and statistics