Dortmund move early for one of Europe’s most coveted teenagers
Borussia Dortmund confirmed on Monday the signing of Konstantinos Karetsas, the 18-year-old Greece international, from Belgian side KRC Genk. The guaranteed fee sits at €30 million, with bonuses capable of lifting the package to €32 million, and the attacking midfielder has committed to a five-year contract running to June 2031.
Genk did not let their academy product leave unprotected. The Belgian club kept a 10 percent sell-on clause, a marker of the resale value they expect Karetsas to reach in the years ahead.
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A profile that fits the Dortmund blueprint
The move follows a familiar Dortmund pattern. The club has spent the past decade buying and developing teenagers before selling them on at a premium, from Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland to Jude Bellingham, who left for Real Madrid in a deal worth north of €100 million. Handing an 18-year-old attacking midfielder a five-year contract slots neatly into that model.
Reports in Germany put Karetsas’ base salary near €3.5 million a year, with performance bonuses layered on top. Genk, for their part, banked €30 million on Monday and kept a cut of whatever comes next.
What comes next
Karetsas arrives with a Bundesliga season about to open and a place to earn in a busy midfield. Genk collect a significant fee and a future percentage, Dortmund add another teenager to a squad built around them, and the Greek gets the stage his early rise demanded.
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