How to explain Julien Duranville and his relationship with the Dortmund fans?
He’s been their great hope for some time, since arriving from Anderlecht in 2023, and the fanbase has plenty of Duranville truthers, who believe that he is only a few games away from catching fire and becoming an era-defining player. They might be right; Duranville is really, really talented and on form he is an exhilaratingly dynamic winger.
For now, he’s a bit of tease. The defensive side of his game is not there yet, and he can seem too lightweight for the Bundesliga at times and too easy to barge off the ball.
That’s the other side of the argument about him — is he worth the minutes on the pitch, when he often flatters to deceive.
He’s still only 19, so placing him at the centre of that kind of culture war is silly. Still, that’s where they are on that issue in the Ruhr Valley.