
Filippo Mané: Who is Borussia Dortmund's Italian centre-back compared to Mats Hummels?
Jadon Sancho, Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland all came to Borussia Dortmund to become world-beaters, and Italy U20 international centre-back Filippo Mané looks set to follow in their footsteps after signing his first professional contract with the club.
bundesliga.com takes a closer look at a defender who Dortmund believe has the quality to make it to the top.
Age: 19 (born 8 March 2005)
Club: Borussia Dortmund
Position: Centre-back/right-back
Country: Italy
Key stats
Mané signed his first professional contract with Dortmund on 6 January 2025, with him committing his future to the Black-Yellows until 30 June 2028. Surely, though, it was always Mané's destiny to play for Dortmund. Aged four, and at the urging of his grandfather Marino, Mané joined Vela Mesero, a club on the western side of Milan. The colour of their shirts? Yes, you couldn't make it up: yellow and black.
"It's a great experience, both in football and personal terms," said Mané on arriving at Dortmund in January 2022, having left home to join Sampdoria aged 14. "Since I was young, I've been used to being away from home, and here in Germany I'm being looked after very well."
Immediately slotting in to the heart of the U19s back four, head coach Mike Tullberg listened to his instincts and made Mané U19s captain for the 2023/24 season, despite the youngster having sat out a good chunk of the previous campaign with a muscle injury that meant he missed Italy's U19 Euro win in summer 2023.
Mané then sustained another serious injury, this time to his knee, but worked his way back to help his side to the U19 championship final, even assisting Paris Brunner's goal in the title-decider they lost to Hoffenheim.
His progress has come as no surprise at BVB. Mané had been on Dortmund's radar in a serious way since September 2021 when he starred in a four-nation U17 tournament involving Germany, Italy, Israel and Belgium in Duisburg, having already become first-choice for Sampdoria's U19 team at the highest level of youth football in Italy.
By the start of the 2023/24 season, youth academy director Lars Ricken was tipping Mané to reach the first team. He has done that in the 2024/25 campaign, even being named on the bench for the UEFA Champions League game against Real Madrid, while he made his professional debut for Dortmund II in the 3. Liga in a 1-1 against Hansa Rostock before another spell on the sidelines stopped him in his tracks. Despite those fitness issues, Dortmund clearly believe in his ability and will hope he can put those setbacks behind him.
Plays a bit like: Mats Hummels
"Physically fantastic, quick and good in the air," is how Tullberg described Mané, who - with his ability on the ball and penchant for a risk or two with it at his feet - inevitably conjures comparisons with BVB great Hummels.
Intelligent on and off the pitch - he was hoping to study marketing or sports science alongside his football career - Mané's near 6'2" physique and the fact his coach's hand him the captain's armband are other points of comparison with Hummels, who left Dortmund in summer 2024.
Did you know?
He's not related to former Bayern Munich man Sadio, but Filippo's surname does betray a shared Senegalese heritage.
"I love Senegal and when I can, I travel to Dakar to see my uncle and cousins," said Filippo, whose father, Antoine, hails from the west African nation.
He needs help to talk to his relatives, though, as his French is not great. When he arrived in Dortmund, he communicated mostly in English, but by August 2023 was already able to give his first interview in German.
What they're saying
"Filippo has developed really well with us over the past three years and has earned this professional contract. We want to continue down this path with him and continue to support him because he has the right attitude and we still see a lot of potential in him." - Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl
"He's a great guy. In terms of personality, he's fantastic, that's also why we brought him in." - U19s Dortmund coach Tullberg
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