FC Bayern Munich is breaking new ground in planning its team. The Munich team focus on signing promising talents, which they can then introduce to the professional squad at their own club. It could become a model of the future.
As the club leaders in the summer Julian Nagelsman as coach of RB Leipzig started, the 34-year-old trainer promised a successful era with numerous titles on Säbener Straße. Set alongside other silver and goldware for the trophy showcase Oliver Kahn, Hasan Salihamidzic and Herbert Hainer at Nagelsmann there are still further successes that can be counted.
The Bayern coach should succeed in something that many of his predecessors on the coaching bench failed: introduce talented young players to the professionals and, ideally, establish them there.
FC Bayern: Young talents instead of expensive stars?
Especially in times of a pandemic, in the because ghost games the ruble is anything but rolling in large numbers, this is the case if you don’t want to get hopelessly into debt like the FC Barcelonanot to commit financial hara-kiri.
For this reason, the eyes of those responsible at Bayern are now not only directed towards the international transfer market with its expensive stars, but increasingly towards young talents on the club’s own campus. Numerous young players who dream of a career as a professional and at best make it into the A squad of the German record champions.
The latest players to have achieved this are Jamal Musiala, who has meanwhile even made it to the German national team and – with reservations – Josip Stanisic on the right side of defence.
One of the tasks of now is that it doesn’t stop with these two campus players Julian Nagelsman. And the club is currently doing a lot so that the professional coach can draw on the full potential of the youngsters.
Four young talents for the Bayern campus
Just recently, three talents from Scandinavia and South Korea were signed for the Bayern youth team. That’s how it’s supposed to be Danish Juwel Jonathan Asp Jensen will move from FC Midtjylland to the Bayern campus in the summer. For the midfielder, who turned 16 on Friday birthday celebrated, a transfer fee of 1.5 million euros is said to be under discussion.
Nagelsmann himself has already made positive comments about Danish top talent Jensen. “It’s good that we make such transfers, bind young good talents to us early on, just to be a little more creative than maybe one or the other club,” he said Friday at the press conference in Munich. Should the change be perfect, Jensen would initially be considered for the offspring.
“It’s important that we have good scouting early on in order to get good talent. Even after that, there’s still a long way to go,” said Nagelsmann.
Another talent that is already coming in winter is the swedish Left-back Matteo Perez Vinlof. At Bayern, the 16-year-old from Hammarby IF will initially strengthen the U19s. Vinlöf was able to convince the Munich team during a trial session and signed a long-term contract in the Bavarian capital.
FC Bayern secures purchase option for talents
The third newcomer to the FCB campus is the South Korean Hyun-ju Lee. The 18-year-old Pohang Steelers U18 captain is on loan for a year, after which Bayern have an option to buy the attacking midfielder.
Lee was also able to convince campus manager Jochen Sauer and other responsible persons of his skills in a trial session and will strengthen the Bayern amateur team in the regional league in the future.
The change of Lovro Zvonarek from the Croatian club Slaven Belupo Koprivnica is also fixed. The 16-year-old midfield talent signed a contract with the German record champions last September and will initially strengthen the second team from Munich from summer 2022.
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FC Bayern pays a lot of money for young players
“Lovro was with us on campus for trial training in the spring. We have been convinced of his great development potential for a long time and are very pleased that he decided to move to FC Bayern decided,” said Sauer.
As with Jensen, Bayern open the box wide with Zvonarek, the youngest goalscorer in the Croatian league. Munich should pay 1.8 million euros for that Croatian talent, under certain conditions this amount can increase up to 5 million.
Zvonarek himself is already looking forward to his future in Munich: “Der FC Bayern is one of the largest and most successful clubs in the world. To be able to play here in the future and wear this shirt makes me proud. And it also spurs me on to work hard on myself every day.”
But not only abroad, also in this country FC Bayern always looking for talent. The 16-year-old Tom Bischof is said to be at the top of the Munich notebooks.
Wanner can already get a taste of Bundesliga air at the age of 16
Bischof is currently still playing for the U19s TSG Hoffenheim, but the midfielder’s contract expires in the summer. Nagelsmann is said to have a high opinion of the German U17 international. And when it comes to wooing the teenager, Bayern have an ace up their sleeve. In Munich, Bischof would meet his former youth coach Danny Galm, who was still active in Kraichgau last season and is now coaching Bayern’s U19s.
The fact that you can also make it from the Bayern campus into the star-studded professional squad of Munich is what the already mentioned is for Jamal Musiala the best example. But Paul Wanner and Lucas Copado were also allowed to play against at the start of the second half of the season Borussia Monchengladbach collect their first Bundesliga minutes.
Admittedly, their assignments were due to the corona-related personnel situation in Bavaria, but it can definitely be taken as a sign that Julian Nagelsman is quite willing to give the youngsters a chance with the professionals.
And so Wanner has been the youngest player ever to play for Bayern in the Bundesliga since January 7, 2022 at the age of 16 years and 15 days. He has this record Jamal Musiala cheated, who is now an integral part of the professional squad.
And Wanner was also allowed on Saturday against the 1. FC Cologne more minutes of Bundesliga air.
Opportunities for young talent have never been better
Same with Mallik Tillman. The 19-year-old moved from Fürth to Munich in the summer of 2015 and has since played his way from the B youth to the second team. Under Julian Nagelsman he can now also sniff professional air. On matchday 16, Tillman was able to beat the VfB Stuttgart celebrate his Bundesliga debut, since then Nagelsmann has let him gain a few minutes of professional experience in every party.
The omens for the youngsters are as good as ever that they will be able to play a minute or two with the pros under Nagelsmann. And maybe Musiala won’t be the last player to make the leap from campus to the Allianz Arena has achieved.
This article was written by André Wagner
