Introducing Bayern Munich Signing Joshua Kimmich, Pep Guardiola's 'Dream Player'

On Friday, Bayern Munich announced, via their official website, their first capture of the 2015 calendar year: Joshua Kimmich. The 19-year-old defensive midfielder, who currently plays at RB Leipzig, will join the Bavarian giants this summer after Stuttgart accepted a €7 million offer to release the player from his ties to the club of his youth.

To many who follow German youth football, Kimmich's name may not be the first to come to mind when considering players born in 1995 or later.

Leon Goretzka—who is also a natural central midfielder whom Bayern assistant coach Hermann Gerland labeled "a must," via Goal (in German), for his team—and Max Meyer competed alongside Kimmich with the German under-17s in 2012, but both debuted with Joachim Low's senior Mannschaft last year.

Center back Niklas Sule and holding midfielder/central defender hybrid Niklas Stark played alongside Kimmich at last summer's Under-19 European Championship (the latter captaining the team) but both have Bundesliga experience and have since been promoted to the under-21 national side.

Elsewhere among the Under-19 Euro winners are 1996-borns Levin Oztunali and Julian Brandt, both a year ahead of the curve and both of whom have played Bundesliga and Champions League football for Leverkusen. The former, a holding midfielder and the grandson of Germany legend Uwe Seeler, was also linked with Bayern just over two years ago according to Hamburger Morgenpost (in German).

Marc-Oliver Kempf, Hany Mukhtar, Davie Selke, Marc Stendera, Marvin Friedrich, and Marius Gersbeck have also made their Bundesliga debuts, while Timo Werner (a 1996-born who played at the Under-19 Euros in 2013) even holds the record for the youngest player ever to record a brace in the German top flight.

Amid a huge mass of German talent born in or after 1995, Kimmich was, until recently, rather unnoticed. He never so much as made the bench at Stuttgart, playing instead for the reserves.

His performances last summer earned him a move to Leipzig and a step up to 2. Bundesliga football, but for him to be valued at €7 million (the second-highest sum ever paid for a German player aged 19 or below) was perhaps surprising. For comparison, Mukhtar, who scored in the U19 Euro semifinal and netted the winner in the final, is expected to leave Hertha for Sporting for just €500,000, via Bild (German).

Commenting on Kimmich's transfer, Stuttgart coach Huub Stevens expressed regret but admitted he was surprised Bayern were willing to pay so well for the youngster. Per ESPN, he told Sport1 television: "Of course, the managerial staff are sad about it. I would have loved to work with him. But seven million euros—my word—that's a lot of money for a player who has yet to appear in the Bundesliga.''

It is also somewhat strange that Bayern sign Kimmich just six months after surrendering all rights to Emre Can (they had a buy-back clause) when he transferred from Leverkusen to Liverpool. The Germany under-21 international captained the under-17s in 2011 and is an enormous talent whose profile grew and grew last spring. But apparently the Bavarians see some serious potential in their new signing.

As a player, Kimmich isn't as glamorous as the many attackers Germany has produced in recent years. He's defensive by nature, capable of playing in a box-to-box role but certainly not as a number 10. In this regard, it's understandable that he may have gone under the radar until now.

Kimmich is the type of player who has great instincts and tremendous speed to the ball. He's aggressive and not shy to tackle; not unlike Lars and Sven Bender, he never hesitates to make a move to a slightly over-hit touch or pass.

On the ball, Kimmich lacks the wizardry of an attacker but seems to know his limits and plays very well within his means. Germany had plenty of class going forward at the U-19 Euros and didn't need the holding midfielder to play in the final third so much as they needed a reliable fulcrum ahead of the back four to serve as the midfield pivot.

Even so, like Christoph Kramer and Bastian Schweinsteiger, Kimmich has some tricks up his sleeve and the confidence and competence to use them. He doesn't get hassled under pressure and can be counted on to dribble or pass the ball through a crowded midfield. The mettle he's shown as a youth player is perhaps the most important attribute towards his future success: At Bayern, a young player needs to be self-assured above all in order to handle inevitable setbacks and become a first-team regular.

For the time being, Kimmich's stature is far from imposing. He's listed (per Yahoo) at 5'9" inches and 154 pounds. But what might look like a weakness he's managed to turn into a strength. His relatively low center of gravity and shorter legs make him very agile and quick to accelerate, attributes that can be very useful for a ball-winner in the center of the park: Think Arturo Vidal.

As he nears his 20th birthday in February, there's little likelihood that Kimmich will grow in height. He could use a bit more muscle, though, which is entirely buildable in his early 20s. Some 10-15 pounds of lean weight could go a long way towards developing him into the midfield stalwart he could be.

Bayern's press release announcing Kimmich's capture was perhaps a little dramatic, declaring him Pep Guardiola's "wunschspieler" (requested player), the same diction previously slung around the German press for Mario Gotze and Thiago Alcantara. The 19-year-old is not going to walk into Bayern's first team and certainly has some distance to go before he's ready for Bundesliga football—perhaps further than he can go with Bayern's reserves in the German fourth division.

If his talent is well-managed and he takes advantage of his opportunities, however, Kimmich has a bright future. Xabi Alonso, Philipp Lahm and Schweinsteiger are all on the wrong side of 30 years of age and Thiago is very injury-prone, so there may well be room for a new holding midfielder in the Bayern squad sooner than later.

Although not the most glamorous player overall, and not even seen as the biggest central midfield talent of his age group, Bayern would not have invested so much without good reason. Time will tell whether their faith will be rewarded.

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