Julian Brandt Gives Bayern Munich Food for Thought in Bayer Leverkusen Victory

Julian Brandt celebrated his 19th birthday in style on Saturday night as he sealed a 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich with a well-taken goal late in the match. The youngster came off the bench for the final quarter of an hour and took just six minutes to score his third goal in as many games.

On the opposing bench, Sinan Kurt sat for the full 90 minutes. A week after making an underwhelming, 45-minute debut against Hertha BSC, the 1996-born attacker (as is Brandt) looked on as Rico Strieder and Lukas Gortler debuted instead.

The difference in Brandt and Kurt's Saturday evening underlines exactly where smaller clubs can compete with Bayern. Brandt was a well-known talent from a very young age.

Along with Timo Werner, he was one of two players named to the German under-17 national team for the 2012 European Championship, and to this date they remain the only two Germans ever to be called to the under-17 team a year ahead of their age group.

As with every young German talent, Bayern were linked with Brandt in his Wolfsburg days. In May of 2013, the player's father claimed interest, via Bild (in German), from Bayern as well as Borussia Dortmund. Chelsea, per Metro, were also reportedly keen on Brandt later that year. But instead, it was Leverkusen who were quickest to the draw as they tied down the Bremen native in December of 2013 with a five-and-a-half-year contract, effective the following month.

After missing out on Brandt, Bayern instead turned to Sinan Kurt. The left-footed forward left Borussia Monchengladbach for the Allianz Arena last August with hopes of achieving greatness. However, events on Saturday very accurately reflected the respective careers of Brandt and Kurt since their respective moves in 2014.

Brandt took to professional football like a fish to water last spring, making the leap from Wolfsburg's under-19 team to the Leverkusen senior side with little difficulty. He debuted in February and played in 14 games (including two in the Champions League), scoring two goals and giving three assists in the final eight Bundesliga fixtures of the campaign.

The youngster went on to win the under-19 European Championship with Germany last summer and scored in his second Bundesliga game of the campaign, but a torn ankle ligament set him back a month, and with Karim Bellarabi, Hakan Calhanoglu and Heung-Min Son firing on all cylinders, he struggled for playing time in the fall.

Despite his setback, Brandt has come on well in recent months, playing a role in every game since Round 15 and scoring very well-taken goals in each of his last three games. There is growing pressure especially on Son to produce, lest Brandt usurp his role on the left wing.

Frank Augstein/Associated Press

Kurt's fortunes have been quite the opposite. The forward started his season in good form with the under-19 team but has scored just twice since November 1 and is without a goal since late February. And although he finally did debut for the first team, the fact that he rode the bench throughout Saturday's game doesn't speak well for his status at the club.

This isn't to say Brandt is destined for superstardom and Kurt for anonymity at a 2. Bundesliga club, but how their respective careers have progressed this year should be no surprise.

From the perspective of a young footballer, Leverkusen is a much better environment to develop than Munich at this time because the Werkself not only have world-class facilities to match Bayern's, but limited squad depth and relatively little financial resources to bring in stars that might block youngsters from the first team.

Brandt has able to succeed as of late because Roger Schmidt kept playing him even when he didn't produce earlier in the season. Kurt made his debut a week ago and was back on the bench in the next game.

The pressure is always greater at Bayern, which makes it exceedingly difficult for even the brightest young talents to impose themselves.

Those who have been able to in recent years have always had an obvious gap to fill, whether it being Thomas Muller in attack following Bastian Schweinsteiger's conversion to defensive midfield, David Alaba filling the void left years before by Bixente Lizarazu, or Holger Badstuber filling in for Lucio as the underwhelming Martin Demichelis and Daniel van Buyten competed for a spot alongside him.

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

Regardless of the quality of environment they can offer for development, a club always has to put its best foot forward and try to sign the best players possible. Bayern cannot guarantee the same first team opportunities as many other Bundesliga clubs, but they can offer far more money and prestige.

And many young talents have taken a leap. Kurt was clearly signed with an eye on the age of Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, just as Joshua Kimmich's transfer to the Allianz Arena was surely made with the club aware that Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm and Xabi Alonso are advancing in age.

Bayern have been wise to foresee the inevitable decline of their current stars and prepare for the future by snapping up young talents. The trouble is, they have to be extremely careful in their pursuits. A player that may succeed at a club like Leverkusen or Gladbach may not stand a chance in Munich.

As of now, the verdict is still out on Kurt: He may make something of himself eventually, but one will always have to wonder whether he could have done better with another year at the Borussia-Park. Brandt surely would have faced some enormous hurdles at Bayern, but he always was the bigger talent and could foreseeably have come on better than Kurt has until this point.

Signing Kurt apparently hasn't changed Bayern's opinion of Brandt, nor have the ex-Gladbach man's performances. Sport Bild (in print only, h/t German source TZ) reported in January that the German giants remain keen to sign Brandt. The Leverkusen man missed out on a couple golden opportunities in the DFB-Pokal last month, but made no mistake on Saturday as he offered further credentials of his status as Germany's next big talent.

He's now in devastating form, and that's surely giving the Bayern executives some food for thought as they plan for the future.

@Mr_Bundesliga