- © © DFL DEUTSCHE FUSSBALL LIGA
- © © DFL DEUTSCHE FUSSBALL LIGA

The Bundesliga's Top 20 Under 20: Part III

xwhatsappmailcopy-link

Head coaches, club scouts and football fans around the world are always seeking to unearth future superstars of the sport and in the Bundesliga, a league famed for its youth academies and the development of young talent, it is no different.

Which unheard-of talent will be the name on everyone's lips? Who is the next Robert Lewandowski or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang? With the 2016/17 campaign fast approaching, bundesliga.com has a four-part series aimed at outlining the top 20 players, 20 years of age or younger, that you should be familiarising yourself with before the season gets underway...

- © gettyimages

Lukas Klostermann

Date of birth: 03/06/1996

Club: RB Leipzig

Position: Right-back

Bundesliga appearances so far: N/A

Germany Under-21 right-back Klostermann started all but four of promoted Leipzig's 34 Bundesliga 2 assignments last season. Winning only 48 per cent of his attempted challenges, the 20-year-old still has ample room for improvement, although he did impress on a regular basis with his enterprising forays into opposition territory, notching one goal and four assists.

Bundesliga wingers will demand much more of him defensively, but his general performance levels over the course of only his second full season as a professional showed him to be a quick learner with bags of untapped potential.

- © imago

Kingsley Coman

Date of birth: 13/06/1996

Club: FC Bayern München

Position: Right wing

Bundesliga appearances so far: 23

- © gettyimages / Matthias Hangst

A revelation in his debut season in the Bundesliga with Bayern, Juventus FC loanee Coman will look to pick up where he left off at the end of 2015/16. Only Douglas Costa chipped in with more assists for Bayern than the 20-year-old France international, who has already won five league titles since being handed his professional debut by new Bayern head coach Carlo Ancelotti whilst on the books at Paris-Saint Germain in February 2013.

The rocket-propelled winger memorably proved his parent club Juve's undoing as a substitute in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 and is now in an undeniably strong position to make a play for a regular starting berth down the Bayern right.

Watch: Coman's top five moments so far in a Bayern shirt

- © imago / Geisser

Nico Elvedi

Date of birth: 30/09/1996

Club: Borussia Mönchengladbach

Position: Centre-back

Bundesliga appearances so far: 21

Breel Embolo

Amiri was a regular in the Hoffenheim second team under Markus Gisdol, but it was Huub Stevens who gave the 19-year-old his first real run with the seniors. The Germany Under-21 international featured in every Bundesliga game from Matchday 10 onward and started 11 of the 14 top-flight matches under current head coach Julian Nagelsmann.

His work ethic could not be faulted – on average, he covered an impressive 12.5 kilometres of ground per game - while his four goals and four assists was a return bettered at Hoffenheim only by Kevin Volland and Andrej Kramaric. Above all, though, it is his proficiency in every position across the front line that makes him so difficult to ignore.

Date of birth: 14/02/1997

Club: FC Schalke 04

Position: Forward

Bundesliga appearances so far: N/A

Courted by a host of big-name suitors, Embolo represents a real coup for Schalke. The 19-year-old moves to the Bundesliga having won three successive Swiss Super League titles with FC Basel 1893 and with significant experience behind him on the European stage for club and country.

After posting a career-best return of ten goals and ten assists in 27 league outings last term and featuring in all four of Switzerland's games at UEFA EURO 2016, the commanding forward can expect to see plenty of playing time in 2016/17.

Click here for part I

Click here for part II

Click here for part IV