More success for academy graduates
Joshua Zirkzee has given joy to Bayern Munich fans in the past seven days. The Dutch winger came off the bench against Freiburg and Wolfsburg to score the winner. These wins were even more satisfying since a youth academy player had a big role to play in it.
Bayern has struggled to blood young players from the academy in the first team during the second half of this decade. Fans will hope that Zirkzee’s performances can act as a springboard for other young players to come through and establish themselves in the first team.
Obviously, every youth academy graduate is not going to make it at Bayern. However, there are some very promising talents in the current reserves squad that deserve chances to prove themselves at the top level. A proper plan needs to be drawn by the club to give young players a decent amount of game time in the first team every season.
Sarpreet Singh and Leon Dajaku also got their first-team debuts under Flick, so Die Roten fans will be wishing that there are more success stories for youth players in the first team next year. There is no bigger sense of pride for a fan when a young player from the academy goes on to become a star for the first team.