Wisdom Mike: Who is one of Bayern Munich's top academy talents?

Wisdom Mike has been training with Bayern Munich's first team and even made the matchday squad against Werder Bremen in February 2025. Who is the 16-year-old talent held in such high regards by Vincent Kompany?

Data correct as of 7 February 2025

Wisdom Mike

Age: 16 (born 24 September 2008)
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Winger
Country: Germany (1 cap at U17 level)

Key stats

Mike shot into the public eye in 2022 following a high-profile switch from his former academy at Borussia Mönchengladbach at the age of just 13. Prior to joining the youth ranks at Gladbach, however, he had first begun his development at MSV Duisburg.

Regarded as one of Bayern's premier academy talents, Kompany called him up to train with the first team on 27 January 2025 at the age of 16, ahead of their UEFA Champions League clash with Slovan Bratislava. 

Wisdom Mike has been training with the Bayern first team in 2025 and made the matchday squad against Werder Bremen in February. - IMAGO/Oryk HAIST

Mike was by no means selected to train by Kompany at random. He has continued impressing this season in Bavaria, having scored 14 goals and provided six assists in 14 games across all competitions for Bayern's U17 team, as well as three goals and an assist for Bayern's U19 team.

Most recently, Mike caught attention with his performance for the U19s in a friendly against West Ham United's U18s over the winter break, in which he scored the first goal of a 3-1 victory inside just four minutes.

His first real taste of senior action came in Bayern's Matchday 21 encounter with Bremen, being named on the bench that included the likes of Thomas Müller, Leroy Sané, Leon Goretzka and fellow academy graduates Josip Stanišić and Gabriel Vidović.

Plays a bit like: Ousmane Dembélé

Similarly to the ex-Dortmund man, Mike is a very quick winger and exceptionally gifted on the ball, often gliding past defenders in one-on-one situations with ease. However, it's the youngster's natural ability to use both feet almost interchangeably that strenghtens the comparison, as Dembélé is regarded as one of the most two-footed footballers of his generation.

It's an enormous asset to have for a manager, who can confidently deploy Mike on either wing, and it equally causes enormous problems for defenders, as his mesmeric dribbling and lack of a favoured side makes him incredibly difficult to keep quiet.

Mike has also represented Germany at lower age groups, pictured here in an U16 match against Japan. - Luis Branca/GettyImages

Did you know?

Despite having represented Germany from U15 through to U17 level, Mike holds dual citizenship with Nigeria and remains eligible to represent the Super Eagles at international level.

What they're saying

“He’s a winger. He’s obviously still very young, so we don’t want to talk him up too much. He has that ability one-against-one, speed. He’s a player from our youth ranks and earned this first chance. But he’s still got a long way to go. We’ll keep supporting him.” - Vincent Kompany after naming Mike in the squad against Werder Bremen

About the clubs

FC Bayern München

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