FCK missed transfer
©IMAGO
Gessime Yassine is making a name for herself at the U20 World Cup. The 19-year-old winger from Morocco has so far played in every game for the North Africans, who will play their semi-final against the French youth team on Wednesday, and has so far recorded two goals and three assists. This makes the professional from Ligue 2 club USL Dunkerque one of the top scorers in the competition. This is said to have brought numerous clubs onto the scene, including from the Bundesliga – transfer market expert Ronan Caroff looks at the youngster and classifies his development and qualities.
According to “Bild”, 1. FSV Mainz 05, TSG Hoffenheim, VfB Stuttgart, VfL Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen and RB Leipzig are interested in Yassine. From the Premier League, Chelsea FC have the right winger on the list, from Ligue 1, according to “L’Équipe”, RC Strasbourg has Alsace. The price tag for Yassine, who was born in Salon-de-Provence, France, is said to be between 8 million and 10 million euros, which is why some clubs may withdraw from poker again. After an increase of 2 million euros, its market value has recently been estimated at 4 million euros.
According to the report, Yassine could have ended up in Germany last year, but a move to 1. FC Kaiserslautern did not materialize. Accordingly, this failed because Dunkerque’s transfer fee was too high; the northern French are said to have demanded around 2 million euros, while the FCK did not want to pay more than one million euros. But the connection apparently remained, because this summer Naatan Skyttä came to the Red Devils from Dunkerque for 1.8 million euros.
Yassine has been training in the French port city since January 2024, and since then he has played 64 games with six goals and assists each. He also made headlines last season in the Coupe de France when he reached the semi-finals with his club, but was eliminated 2-4 against Paris Saint-Germain.
“He has made a great development because he was never part of a professional academy before moving to Dunkerque. He learned from the youth ranks in Istres and Marignane Gignac, whose first teams played in the fourth or fifth league,” explains France expert Caroff, who describes Yassine’s market value development as “illuminating”: “After his first few months in Dunkerque, he immediately showed great potential and has proven himself has continued to develop since then, so that its statistics for 2025/26 already exceed those of the previous season. This also resulted in its value doubling last week.”
Dunkerque’s sports director, former Bundesliga professional Demba Ba, had already described Yassine’s qualities as follows in 2024: “When this player was suggested to me, I was shown two videos. My first impression when I saw him was: Who am I looking at? Hatem Ben Arfa. When I saw his dribbling and his movements, I thought: Wow… I watched the games until the end and then thought: someone can do that will be an extraordinary development.”