Bayern Munich's Class of '16 Part II: More Starlets Ready to Shine

Bayern Munich's academy at Sabener Strasse is brimming with talent, and with UEFA allowing clubs to add an unlimited number of players to Champions League squads so long as they were born after January 1, 1995, and have been eligible to play for their team for at least two years, fans could have the chance to see the Bayern of tomorrow ahead of time.

Part I of Bayern's Class of '16 looked at Fabian Benko, Niklas Dorsch, Timothy Tillman and Marco Friedl, each player born just before or during the 1998-99 season—the year Manchester United's famous Class of '92 edged the Bavarians 2-1 in the Champions League final in Barcelona.

Just as that United side featured the likes of David Beckham, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers, Gary and Phil, it also leaned on earlier academy graduates such as Ryan Giggs, and so it goes for Bayern.

Serbian forward Milos Pantovic, 20, has already made his full Bundesliga debut, and he is joined in the Champions League List B by talented midfielders Erdal Ozturk and Meritan Shabani—both of whom have been among the goals recently—as well as Felix Gotze, the younger brother of a certain Mario.

"It's a bit weird playing with the guys you look up to, who have achieved everything," Pantovic told Eurosport in January. "And we are now in the middle of it, but they have taken us under their wings."

AJ Mast/Associated Press/Associated Press

Ostensibly a winger, Pantovic chipped in with seven goals for Bayern Munich II last season. Called up for the Bundesliga clash with Werder Bremen last October, Pantovic became the first player of Serbian descent to represent Bayern since Radmilo Mihajlovic in the 1989-90 campaign when he replaced Arturo Vidal late on.

Pantovic was also taken to the club's winter training camp in Qatar alongside the rest of the first team. "It was a complete surprise," said the forward. "I went to Sabener Strasse to make myself available for amateur training, and the next thing I knew, I was in the professional squad."

Born to Serbian parents in Munich, Pantovic has already been tipped to play for the country of his heritage rather than that of his upbringing. "I was shocked when I saw a Serb in the Bayern team," said Serbia under-21 coach Tomislav Sivic after the Bremen cameo.

Pantovic has since gained three caps at that level, helping Serbia to second place in 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying Group 2, behind Italy.

Like Pantovic, Turkish-German midfielder Ozturk has also had a taste of first-team action, although not yet competitively despite being on the bench for this season's opening-day 6-0 destruction of Bremen.

His form in pre-season suggests a full debut may not be too far away, though. Ozturk played against each of Manchester City, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Real Madrid over the summer, and he proved the difference between the sides when Bayern edged City 1-0 on former coach Pep Guardiola's return to the Allianz Arena.

Nominally left-footed, Ozturk replaced David Alaba at half-time and broke the deadlock in a dogged affair 30 minutes later, cutting inside from the left before steering the ball into the near-bottom corner on his supposedly weaker right foot.

Berlin-born Ozturk was signed from Hoffenheim's reserves this summer to play for Bayern Munich II, but he is already showing signs of being ready for the first team.

Where Pantovic and Ozturk have already seen their 20th birthdays, Shabani is a veritable greenhorn at 17. Considered one of the most promising prospects at the academy, his age has not stopped him from being promoted to the club's under-19 team two years ahead of time. 

A Kosovan Albanian also eligible for Germany, Shabani is not simply making up the numbers, either. While the first team dismantled FC Rostov 5-0 in their Champions League Group D opener on Tuesday, the under-19s won against the same opposition 4-2 in the UEFA Youth League earlier the same day.

Shabani delivered the standout moment of the game, picking the ball up in the middle of the park 17 minutes in, controlling sharply on the turn and getting it out from under his feet quickly before unleashing an unstoppable shot past the Rostov 'keeper from fully 30 metres.

Gianluca Gaudino, 19—the son of former Germany international forward Maurizio—showed promise under Guardiola last term and was loaned to St. Gallen in Switzerland for the year in January. Another talented midfielder, he has his work cut out on his return, and that's before mentioning fellow 19-year-old Renato Sanches, signed from Benfica for a reported €35 million in May.

Bayern's embarrassment of riches in midfield prompted Mario Gotze to return to Borussia Dortmund in the summer, but Gaudino junior and Gotze senior have a problem that Felix Gotze does not: The 18-year-old is a centre-back, and one named in the Champions League squad alongside Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng to boot.

"He brings with him size and strength in challenges," said Bayern under-19 coach Holger Seitz, as quoted by T-Online. "He has all the tools that he needs to have in his position."

The youngest Gotze was once a midfielder, but he has been converted over the last season. His taller frame is conducive to the centre-back role, but he maintains his ball-playing ability and is capable of starting moves from the back, much like Hummels and Boateng—at least in terms of style if not execution quite yet.

Gotze started Bayern's pre-season wins against lower-league sides Lippstadt and Landshut, but his half an hour in the 1-0 victory over Manchester City will have been reassuring for coach Carlo Ancelotti, whose first-choice central defenders are injured, meaning he had to revert to a combination of Javi Martinez and Alaba at centre-back against Rostov.

With Pantovic, Ozturk, Shabani and Gotze joining Benko, Dorsch, Tillman and Friedl, as well as the 18-year-old goalkeeper Enrico Caruso, in the expanded Champions League squad, Bayern have a youthful feel when one scratches beneath the surface—and a talented collection of young tyros at that.

Not all of the players in question are guaranteed to break into the senior squad this season, if at all, but they have certainly played themselves into contention.

"The primary objective [of the expanded Champions League squads] is to allow as many players as possible to jump into the first team," Seitz said.

With a three-pronged assault on Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League ahead, the Bavarians might have to negotiate north of 50 games this season. Interested observers could do worse than keeping their lenses trained on Sabener Strasse.