Ranking the Top 6 Teenagers to Have Played for Bayern Munich Since 2000
Heading into the 2016-17 club football season, Bayern Munich have one of Europe's most talented teenage prospects in 18-year-old Renato Sanches. The Portuguese midfielder was a surprise signing for the Bavarians earlier this summer before he shined for his country in their triumph at Euro 2016. The sky looks to be the limit for the former Benfica man.
Yet, as great as Sanches looks to be, he is just the most recent in a long line of talented, young players to break into the first team at Bayern. In this article, B/R looks through the many starlets Bayern have had during the current millennium, picking out and ranking the top six teenagers to play competitively for the German record champions. Click "Begin Slideshow" to see our picks, counting down from No. 6 to No. 1.
6) Kingsley Coman
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Kingsley Coman may be barely 20 years of age, but he's already shaping up to be one of the best players Bayern have had as a teenager since 2000.
The former Paris Saint-Germain man and current Juventus loanee had a surprisingly impressive debut season in Munich, advancing from the status of future prospect to first-team star. He often found himself in the starting lineup, and his master class against Werder Bremen in which he gave a hat-trick of assists was a clear signal of good things to come.
Coman came up aces for Bayern in the Champions League, assisting in every game in which he played in the Group Stage, and scoring and assisting crucial goals in the Round of 16 against his parent club, Juve. At this rate, he'll be a real star for France and Bayern for years to come.
5) David Alaba
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On February 10, 2010, David Alaba became Bayern's youngest-ever player to participate in any competitive fixture, at the age of 17 years, seven months and eight days. He looked surprisingly mature at the time and soon was among those most commonly discussed among the world's best left-backs.
Alaba may only be 24 years of age, but he has already written himself in the annals of history. A true representative of the modern game, he's proven himself in central midfield, central defense and, of course, on the left of defense. The Austrian international has never been fazed by nerves and seems to always show up on the big stage, his combination of pace and power with supreme technical talent and a good eye for the game making him a complete package. He's won the Bundesliga in four out of five full seasons in Munich since his loan at Hoffenheim and has been named Austrian Footballer of the Year every year since 2011.
Having recently penned a contract extension until 2021, Alaba looks likely to follow the likes of Bixente Lizarazu, Andreas Brehme and Paul Breitner into the history books among the best-ever left-backs to play for the Bavarians. Perhaps the only thing keeping him from a better rank on this list is his age; by the end of his career, he might well have surpassed a couple more of its members.
4) Bastian Schweinsteiger
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Bastian Schweinsteiger's days at the Allianz Arena may be over, but he left his mark before his departure last summer. Ottmar Hitzfeld recognized the midfielder's talent in November of 2002 and brought him in at the tender age of 18 as a late substitute against Lens in the Champions League. He would go on to make 16 appearances in all competitions during that term, and was a regular starter in each season thereafter.
Schweinsteiger spent half his Bayern career on the wing and was functional, but he reached the next level when Louis van Gaal converted him to a central midfielder in 2009. Once an immature, pimply-faced boy with bleached hair, Schweinsteiger soon developed into the legend he's now remembered as.
The Kolbermoor native's best games were with the German national team, notably in wins against Argentina at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, but he also was a key figure in Bayern's run to the Champions League finals in 2010, 2012 and 2013. He made 500 appearances for Bayern and will forever be remembered as one of the club's hometown heroes.
3) Toni Kroos
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Toni Kroos may have left Bayern two years ago, but during his teen years and early 20s, he was a magnificent player for the German giants.
Even from his debut, it was easy to see that Kroos would be something special. In his first match for Bayern in September of 2007, the then-17-year-old Kroos played two gorgeous passes to assist Miroslav Klose in a span of just 18 minutes off the bench. A month later, he came on for the final nine minutes of a UEFA Cup match with Red Star Belgrade and assisted Klose again before scoring his first goal for the senior team. Kroos would spent a year and a half at Bayern before joining Leverkusen on loan for 18 months. When he returned, he was ready to deliver as a mature, star player.
From 2010 to 2014, Kroos was a consistent and ever-present force in the Bayern midfield, his metronomic passing helping the club develop a possession-based style of play. The Roten reached three Champions League finals during his stay and won the domestic double in each of his final two seasons. He recorded more assists than any player at the 2014 World Cup and was recently named to the Euro 2016 Team of the Tournament. And after 2015-16, he's now a two-time Champions League winner. The accolades keep coming in for Kroos, who despite his limited years already looks to be on his way to legendary status.
2) Thomas Muller
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Thomas Muller may be coming off a serious low note in his career following Euro 2016, but looking over the past seven seasons, few players in world football have matched his productivity and success.
As a Bayern player, Muller has recorded 152 goals and 116 assists in 353 appearances in all competitions. Over the last seven years, that means an average of 38 goals annually have either been scored or set up directly by the 26-year-old.
Muller is one of the few players in the modern game to match his club success on the international stage. Despite his Euro woes, he was top scorer at the 2010 World Cup and has 10 goals in two such tournaments. He's won the World Cup, the Champions League (with three finals appearances), five Bundesliga and four DFB-Pokal titles, and has been a force of consistency in this Bayern team more than Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben ever could be due to their injuries. Muller is a big-game player and perhaps the most significant driving force behind his club and country's success.
1) Philipp Lahm
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On November 13, 2002, two days after his 19th birthday, Philipp Lahm made his debut for Bayern Munich as a stoppage-time substitute against Lens in the Champions League. It was the only appearance for the Bayern first team he would make that season and the only time he'd play for Bayern as a teenager, as Bixente Lizarazu and Willy Sagnol's roles in the two full-back positions were safe.
After a loan to Stuttgart, Lahm would return to Munich and become one of the club's legends. Since his return in 2005, he's been simply phenomenal. He's dedicated his entire career to Bayern and was rewarded with the captaincy in January of 2011, an honor that at the time was questioned by some due to his soft-spoken demeanor. Yet the decision seems to have been the right one, as two years later, he led the team to a treble. He later captained Germany to the World Cup title.
Good full-backs with a rounded skill set are hard to find these days, but Lahm's balance of attacking skill and rock-solid defensive technique and positioning more or less define what the role ought to be. Whether on the left or right of defense, or even in midfield at times, he's been a hero. Much like Paolo Maldini at Milan, Bayern will never forget the name Philipp Lahm.
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