Yusuf Kabadayi, Malik Tillman, Sarpreet Singh, Lukas Mai and Chris Richards (l-r.) have all made waves at the Bayern Munich academy and could soon be the first player since David Alaba to truly break into the record champions’ first team. - © DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga
Yusuf Kabadayi, Malik Tillman, Sarpreet Singh, Lukas Mai and Chris Richards (l-r.) have all made waves at the Bayern Munich academy and could soon be the first player since David Alaba to truly break into the record champions’ first team. - © DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga
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5 Bayern Munich academy players to watch

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Since David Alaba broke through into the Bayern Munich first team in 2011, no player from the academy has been able to hold down a place with the record champions long term. Yet the club has set about changing that and there are a number of young talented players putting forward their name for a chance to play with the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Müller and Manuel Neuer.

In 2019, Bayern broke their transfer record when they signed Lucas Hernandez from Atletico Madrid. The Munich club spent a similar amount on their state-of-the-art FC Bayern Campus as a place for its youngsters to hone their skills and work their way up to the first team while the club could avoid the ever increasing fees associated with transfers.

CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has even stated that the first team will in the future reserve places in its squad for youth players.

bundesliga.com shines a light on five youngsters in the academy who could soon be featuring for the Bayern senior side…

Sarpreet Singh

Age: 20
Current Bayern team: Reserves
Position: Attacking midfield
Country: New Zealand (5 caps, 1 goal)

Born in Auckland to parents of Indian descent, Singh moved halfway across the world in summer 2019 when signed by Bayern from Wellington Phoenix. While originally planned for the reserves, the 20-year-old was immediately put on another long flight to accompany the first team on their summer tour to the USA, where he played in the International Champions Cup against Arsenal, Real Madrid and AC Milan.

Singh was a livewire for Bayern and was hugely impressive during pre-season, including the Audi Cup final against Spurs. - imago images / Claus Bergmann

His first start for the senior side came before he’d even featured for the reserves when he played the entire game against Tottenham Hotspur, predominantly on the wing, even scoring a penalty in the shootout. So impressed was coach Niko Kovac by the New Zealander’s performances, he included the youngster in the squad for the Supercup at Borussia Dortmund.

Since then he’s featured in every game for the reserves in the third division and impressed further from a variety of positions across attacking midfield, registering four goals and five assists in 11 games. Competition for places in the Bayern first team is tough, especially up front where Müller, Philippe Coutinho and even Leon Goretzka are vying for the No.10 spot, but Singh appears to be the next in line for that crucial position.

Lukas Mai

Age: 19
Current Bayern team:
Reserves (2 first-team games)
Position:
Centre-back
Country:
Germany (3 U19 caps)

Teenager Mai also looks to be the next cab off the rank at the other end of the pitch in defence. Having been handed his senior debut just three weeks after his 18th birthday by Jupp Heynckes in a 3-0 win at Hannover in April 2018, Mai has featured twice for Bayern first team. It may not sound like much, but he’s had to compete with Germany’s top three centre-backs in Niklas Süle, Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng.

Mai (l.) has enjoyed the benefits of training along the likes of World Cup winter Boateng (r.) while still getting playing time in professional football with the reserves. - imago images / Schiffmann

The arrivals of Benjamin Pavard and Hernandez have also placed extra barriers in his way, but he has nevertheless featured regularly in matchday squads for the record champions, including six times in the opening 11 matchdays of the current campaign – all whilst playing every minute for the reserves in their first third-division campaign in nearly a decade.

As well as learning from a host of FIFA World Cup winners in first-team training, Mai, who has been in the Bayern academy since 2014, has also been able to learn from the experience of veteran reserves captain Nicolas Feldhahn alongside him at centre-back. “Lukas is a good lad and one of our most talented youngsters. At 19 he’s already a key player for our reserves in the third division. We’re convinced his development isn’t finished yet,” said Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic when Mai signed a contract extension to 2022.

Chris Richards

Age: 19
Current Bayern team:
Reserves
Position:
Centre-back/right-back
Country:
USA (12 U20 caps, 1 goal)

One of the first players to emerge from Bayern’s partnership with FC Dallas in the USA, Richards impressed enough during a loan spell in Munich to convince the record champions to make the move permanent in summer 2019. During his loan, the Birmingham, Alabama native had featured for the first team during their 2018 summer tour, playing half an hour in the 3-1 International Champions Cup win against Paris Saint-Germain.

After becoming a regular for the FCB U19s at his natural position of centre-back, the American has made the step up to the club’s reserves and turned into the team’s first-choice right-back in the third division. His first displays in professional football have caught the attention of coaches beyond Sebastian Hoeneß’s reserves, and Richards has regularly trained with the first team under Kovac and Hansi Flick.

After making his U20 debut for the USA in September 2018, the defender was a late call-up to Tab Ramos’s squad during the CONCACAF U20 Championship, where he played in the final group game and the final win against Mexico. Since then Richards has featured in every competitive game for the U20s, including all five at the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup in Poland as the USA reached the quarter-finals having knocked out favourites France in the round of 16.

Malik Tillman

Age: 17
Current Bayern team:
U19s
Position:
Attacking midfield/striker
Country:
Germany (11 U17 caps, 2 goals)/USA (2 U15 caps)

The name may look familiar, and that will be because Tillman is the younger brother of Timothy, who’s been on the books at Bayern since 2015 and had a spell on loan at hometown club Nuremberg last season. Both born there, the brothers originally started out in the Greuther Fürth academy and are eligible to represent both Germany through their mother and the USA through their father, yet there’s talk that the younger of the two could outdo his older sibling.

It’s been all smiles in recent years for Tillman as he continued to find the back of the net at every age group. - imago images / Lackovic

Captain of the Bayern U17s last season that topped the Bundesliga South/Southwest, Tillman bagged 12 goals and six assists in 14 league games before Miroslav Klose’s side were beaten by Cologne in the national semi-finals. At the same time, though, the then 16-year-old was also turning out for the U19s, where he scored one and got set up two more in 10 games.

That practice looks to have served him well this season as he took the full-time step up to the U19s under Martin Demichelis and Danny Schwarz. Thirteen goals from 16 games is an excellent return for the 17-year-old as he has found the back of the net in the U19 Bundesliga South/Southwest, U19 DFB Cup and UEFA Youth League. In the league he even has 10 in 10, including a run of scoring in six consecutive matches. While the step-up to senior football is huge and Lewandowski is scoring enough goals for an entire team, it may not be too long before we see the younger Tillman in professional action.

Yusuf Kabadayi

Age: 15
Current Bayern team:
U17s
Position:
Striker
Country:
Turkey (7 U15 caps, 4 goals)/Germany

Perhaps the player you haven't heard of on this list, Kabadayi is a relatively recent arrival at the academy but has wasted no time in progressing through the levels. FC Bayern Campus director Jochen Sauer has stated that there is a policy of allowing players who prove they are good enough to move up an age group. As such, a player like Kabadayi was handed his U17 debut as a 15-year-old in the second half of last season.

Kabadayi has had to learn from frustration and is now comfortably performing among older players at Bayern. - imago images / Sven Simon

The Munich native, who has represented Turkey at international level, soon found out that it’s a steep learning curve when he was sent off in the first leg of the semi-final against Cologne – just his sixth game for the side and he’d failed to score in any.

It has served him well for this season, though, where his eight goals in 11 league games see him lead the scoring chart for Klose’s team alongside 16-year-old Nemanja Motika despite being among the youngest in the squad. That club policy of promotion could quickly see Kabadayi appearing on a more prominent stage sooner rather than later.