Kovac Promised Albert Minutes. The City Interest Is Still a Report.
Niko Kovac has said the words. Manchester City have not.
The Borussia Dortmund coach told the Bundesliga’s website, before Friday’s 2-2 draw with Werder Bremen, that there are no restrictions on what Mathis Albert can do. He called the 17-year-old talented, noted the signs in training, and said that sooner or later, probably sooner, Albert will get a lot more minutes than he was getting half a year ago. That is a public commitment. Albert did not play against Bremen. He has one senior appearance this season, the full 90 minutes in a 5-0 DFB-Pokal win over HEBC Hamburg. He has not played a Bundesliga minute since his debut in April, when he became the youngest American to appear in the league, 15 days before his 17th birthday, ahead of Gio Reyna.
The City line is thinner
Goal reported on Oct. 10, citing its sources, that Manchester City made a summer approach for Albert and that Dortmund rejected it, including loan offers. Bild had earlier written that clubs were prepared to go as high as €15 million. The size of City’s actual offer has not been confirmed. Neither club has spoken. Goal also reported that City are keeping contact with a view to next summer. That is a story about interest. It is not a bid that has been acknowledged.
The window is on the record
Albert’s international window is the part that is on the record. He played in all four of the United States’ matches, scored against Chile at 17 years and 131 days, and held the youngest-scorer mark for four days before Cavan Sullivan took it against Mexico. He won a penalty against Peru. He started against Canada. Pochettino used him. That is why the minutes at Dortmund matter more than the report from England.
City already have a USMNT teenager on the way. Sullivan is due in January 2028, the first window after he turns 18. Albert is not that deal. He is a 17-year-old who left the LA Galaxy academy for Dortmund in 2024, who has a coach saying the door is open, and who has a club that has so far refused to open it for anyone else. Kovac’s sentence is the one that can be checked on Sunday. The City approach cannot.
