Serhou Guirassy

Serhou Yadaly Guirassy (born 12 March 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Borussia Dortmund and the Guinea national team.

Early life
Guirassy was born in Arles, France, to Guinean parents.

Club career
Guirassy started his career playing for Montargis, Amilly and Laval.

Lille
In July 2015, Guirassy joined Lille from Laval, signing a four-year contract. The transfer fee was reported to be around €1 million.

1. FC Köln
Guirassy joined 1. FC Köln in July 2016, signing a five-year contract. Soon after arriving at Köln, he underwent meniscus surgery. Later in the first half of the 2016–17 season, muscular problems kept him out of action. He made his Bundesliga debut on matchday 26 on 1 April 2017, in a 2–1 defeat against Hamburger SV. Days later, he was again kept from playing by muscular issues. Towards the end of the season, Guirassy nursed an inflammation of the pubic bone joint.

In his second season, he scored his first goal in a 2–1 away defeat against Bayer Levekusen on 28 October 2017. Five days later, he scored his first goal in the Europa League in a 5–2 victory over BATE Borisov. Later that month, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win against Arsenal in the same tournament. Eventually, 1. FC Köln finished last in the league to be relegated, with Guirassy being their top scorer in all competitions.

Amiens
In January 2019, he was loaned to Amiens until the end of the season. Amiens exercised an option and bought the rights for Guirassy for the upcoming season. Transfer fees were reported to be about 5 to 6 million Euros. Amiens later took advantage of the option and turned the deal permanent.

On 15 February 2020, he scored a brace in a 4–4 draw against Paris Saint-Germain, with his second goal equalized the match in the stoppage time. However, Amiens were relegated while being at 19th position, when the league was suspended prematurely following the outbreak of COVID-19 in France.

Rennes
On 27 August 2020, Guirassy joined Ligue 1 side Rennes on a five-year deal. He scored his first two goals for the club in the same match, a 4–2 league win against Nîmes. On 20 October 2020, he scored his first Champions League goal in a 1–1 draw against Krasnodar in the 2020–21 season, which was also his club's first ever goal in the competition. On 20 March 2022, he scored his first career hat-trick in a 6–1 thrashing of FC Metz.

VfB Stuttgart
On 1 September 2022, Guirassy joined Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart on loan for the 2022–23 season. On 31 May 2023, the club announced that they had activated the option to make the move permanent, signing a three-year contract.

In the 2023–24 season, Guirassy scored ten goals in the first five matches, including his first Bundesliga hat-trick which came against Mainz, to equal a previous record set by Robert Lewandowski in 2020–21. He also set the Bundesliga record for most goals by a player in the first seven matches of a season by scoring a hat-trick within 15 minutes in a 3–1 win against Wolfsburg. This set the record at 13 goals, overtaking Robert Lewandowski's record of 11 in both 2019–20 and 2020–21. After scoring his 14th goal of the season in an away match against Union Berlin, he was substituted after 30 minutes of play due to a hamstring injury. He later missed two league matches, before he managed to score a penalty to secure a 2–1 victory over Borussia Dortmund, and to reach 15 goals in his first nine matches of the season.

On 13 April 2024, he scored his 25th Bundesliga goal in a 3–0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt, breaking the record of most goals by a Stuttgart player in a single campaign set by Mario Gómez in the 2008–09 season. A few days later, he was named Player of the Month for March, achieving the prize for the second time in the season after September 2023. On the final matchday of the 2023–24 season, he netted a brace in a 4–0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach, finishing the season with 28 goals in 28 matches, only behind Harry Kane. Additionally, he scored the opening goal for the 12th time that season during the match, tying a Bundesliga record set by Gerd Müller in 1969–70, Ailton in 2003–04 and Stefan Kießling in 2012–13. Guirassy was ranked the highest African goal scorer in the 2023–24 Bundesliga season by African Folder.

Borussia Dortmund
On 18 July 2024, Guirassy signed a four-year contract with Borussia Dortmund.

International career
Guirassy was a youth international for France. However, he decided to represent the home country of his parents, the Republic of Guinea, at senior level. He debuted in the Guinea national team at a friendly 0–0 tie against South Africa on 25 March 2022, held in Kortrijk, Belgium.

In December 2023, he was named in the Guinean squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.

International

 * Scores and results list Guinea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Guirassy goal.

Honours
Individual
 * Bundesliga Player of the Month: September 2023, March 2024
 * Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2023–24
 * VDV Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2023–24