Not so long ago, Bradley Fink woke up every morning with stars in his eyes in more ways than one.
Borussia Dortmund signed the forward in 2019, on the same day Giovanni Reyna joined the club. In his early days in Germany, Fink found himself training alongside Mats Hummels, who had just returned from Bayern Munich.
Jadon Sancho was already a first-team regular, while Erling Haaland arrived from RB Salzburg midway through Fink’s debut season. Six months later, Jude Bellingham completed his move from Birmingham City.
The Swiss teenager had moved to Signal Iduna Park from Luzern at 16 and made no attempt to play down his ambitions.
“It was my dream to play at Luzern’s home stadium, but I believe my chances of becoming a professional are greater at Dortmund than they were at Luzern,” he said.
“My dream has changed now. My aim is to play for Dortmund in front of 80,000 spectators.”
At the time, Fink’s target appeared entirely realistic. After joining Luzern from nearby SC Cham at the age of nine, he produced astonishing numbers in the club’s youth teams.
Bradley Fink scores during Dundee’s Premiership win over Motherwell last month
Fink hits the post in the same match against the Steelmen
He scored 40 goals in just 21 appearances for Luzern’s under-16 side, helping the team secure a domestic double.
Fink added seven goals in seven games for Switzerland’s under-17s and was regarded as one of the country’s most exciting players in that age group. When Puma filmed an advert for a new trainer range, he was among the first players invited.
Dortmund reportedly watched him 15 times before offering the teenager a three-year contract. The German club was facing strong competition for his signature.
“We received enquiries from 16 other clubs,” Fink’s father, Thomas, revealed.
Dortmund paid only £166,000 in compensation, but Fink quickly began to demonstrate why the club had invested in him.
His first campaign with the second team was hugely productive. Fink scored 12 goals and supplied four assists in 18 matches, finishing as the league’s third-highest scorer. He also made his under-19 debut in a UEFA Youth League fixture against Barcelona.
“He is moving in the right direction,” said Sebastian Geppert, his youth coach at the time.
“He is technically gifted, controls the ball well and is capable of moving it quickly.”
“He is a good lad with a few rough edges. There were days when we trained in the morning, at lunchtime and again in the evening, leaving the boys completely exhausted. We eventually scrapped the early session, but Bradley still wanted to train.”
That relentless work ethic would occasionally give him the chance to train alongside some of the finest young talents in world football.
Yet forcing his way past Haaland, who was three years older than Fink, remained an almost impossible challenge.
Fink has quickly become a fans’ favourite at Dens Park
There was assuredly no shame in failing to dislodge the Norwegian from his position as he sealed a move to Manchester City by tormenting defenders the length and breadth of Germany. A case of right place, wrong time – if ever there was one.
‘It was a very good time playing and training with the first team,’ reflected the Dundee forward ahead of Saturday’s match with Rangers.
‘Sadly, I never got my debut, but the experience of training with Haaland, Bellingham and all of them was very, very good.
‘But in the end it was a very great adventure. From that team we have loads of players that are playing football in higher leagues.’
Fink was different in style to the legendary Norwegian, relying more on his technique and nous than his strength. But there were still learnings to be taken from seeing him at work.
‘He doesn’t have 100 touches, but the touches he has he scores goals with,’ he offered.
When it became apparent that he faced mission impossible to elbow his way to the front of the strikers’ queue, Basel were the first club to recognise that Dortmund’s loss could be their gain.
Having persuaded the forward a return home on the basis that they’d grant him the openings he was denied in Germany, he signed a four-year deal there in 2022.
He did play under Sebastien Frei 25 times in the Swiss Super League in 2022-23, but with just five goals to his name, he wasn’t exactly the prolific marksman that many believed he’d be when he departed his homeland three years previously.
Unable to command a regular start, he moved for a season on loan to Grasshopper where he managed two goals in 31 league matches.
Fink found the net for Dundee at Tynecastle on league duty on September 6
His final season at Basel earned him a league winner’s medal yet just one goal in 16 league appearances.
Struggling to live up to expectations, the one-time golden boy of Swiss football agreed to a left-field move to League One Wycombe Wanderers in 2025.
If he hoped a change of environment would bring a change in fortunes, he was mistaken.
If it hadn’t been for bad luck at Adams Park, Fink would have had no luck at all.
He tore his quad muscle in the first week of pre-season. Having got himself ready for the league opener at Bradford, he did it again.
And by the time he was good to go again, Mike Dodds, the manager who’d signed him, had been sacked.
The upshot was that he immediately became a peripheral figure with just two starts in his 21 appearances last term which yielded two goals.
It was to be the misfortune of another, though, which finally opened the door to salvation at the start of this season.
The crucial ligament injury Simon Murray sustained against Aberdeen on August 15 compelled Steven Pressley to look for an alternative option up front.
Pressley felt the Swiss forward had ‘lost his way a little’ but knew there was a player of pedigree in there.
Facing a choice between sitting on the bench in Buckinghamshire or proving a point in the Scottish Premiership, Fink listened to what Pressley had to say and jumped at the opportunity.
The first impression the Dark Blues supporters had of him could not have been more favourable.
Signed only the day before the derby, he climbed off the bench to help ease Pressley’s side towards a famous 2-0 win at Tannadice.
His six appearances to date have been garlanded with goals against Hearts and Motherwell.
Just as impressive have been his link-up play and movement, traits he honed in his time mixing with football royalty at Dortmund.
Like the club whose jersey he’ll wear until next summer at least, Fink is a player who’s on the rise again. And at just 23, the zenith could still be some way off.
