Club delighted by rise of home-grown talent

The FCB junior team, the club’s youth section, signals its success to the outside world less with trophies and pennants, and more with a display on a wall near the reserve, U-19 and U-17 changing rooms, featuring framed and signed shirts from Philipp Lahm, Piotr Trochowski, Mats Hummels and many more – players who were nurtured at FCB and have gone on to become fully-fledged professionals.

This season, the “Wall of Fame” is not the sole testament to the junior team’s success. The Bayern line-up for Tuesday’s meeting with Fiorentina included five players, or practically half the team, drawn from the club’s youth development programme. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber, Thomas Müller and David Alaba all completed 90 Champions League minutes.

Training as a showcase

“Naturally, it makes your heart glad, and not just mine. It goes for the youth section as a whole,” Hermann Gerland told fcbayern.de. The 55-year-old, boss of the reserves for many successful years, is now Louis van Gaal’s assistant. “Louis van Gaal keeps asking me which of the boys are good,” revealed Gerland, “but he keeps a specially close eye out for quality in daily training.”

Five reserves trained with the seniors on Thursday. “You start in training, then you make the squad, and then you have to deliver when called on to play,” Lahm explained. This term, Müller, Badstuber, Diego Contento and Alaba have all retraced Lahm’s steps, Austria international Alaba even becoming the youngest player ever to represent Bayern in the Champions League.

Van Gaal’s principles

Van Gaal is the main reason why four hopefuls have been given their chances in the first team. “Louis van Gaal is brave enough to send out young lads in important games. Not everyone’s that courageous,” said Gerland. In any case, Van Gaal is known as a champion of youth. “I put Clarence Seedorf in my first team at the age of 16,” he commented. Seedorf and Patrick Kluivert at Ajax, and Xavi and Andrés Iniesta at Barcelona, are just some of the superstars blooded by the Dutch boss.

Van Gaal has stayed true to his policy in Munich. “He’s come at just the right time for someone like me,” said Badstuber. The way the youngsters settle immediately to life with the seniors is remarkable, but Gerland isn’t surprised: “They’re well trained, they have the quality, and the experienced players help them.”

Nothing to lose

That includes the likes of Mark van Bommel, who well remembers his first steps in the pro game: “I watched carefully to see how the veterans coped with a game like Fiorentina. I think that’s what Holger, Thomas, Diego, David and Mehmet [Ekici] are doing.” Playing in this season’s quality-laden team is a useful bonus. “You raise your game to the same level. If there’s a high standard in training, you acclimatise and improve,” opined Van Bommel.

Müller feels he understands how the 17-year-old Alaba coped so smoothly with Europe’s elite competition: “You just don’t stop and think in your first few matches. No-one’s expecting much and you’ve nothing to lose. You can try a few things and give it your best shot,” said the man who recently won his first full cap for Germany, “it’s more difficult once the media and opposing teams have heard of you. But you need to stay cool and not think too hard.”

Gerland’s eagle eyes

The sheer number of young players in the squad was a great help, Müller continued. “You speak to the others and find out how they did it.” And then there’s Gerland, who Müller says “is always prepared to listen.” The coach has good ears, but exceptionally good eyes too. “I think I can spot quite early on whether a player can make it as a pro,” said Gerland, “two years ago, I said Alaba would be a great player and would quickly join the seniors.”

Alaba could still play another eighteen months for the U-19s, but has appeared solely for the reserves this term. “Every single one of them who coped with the third division while still in their first year as a U-19 has made it to the pro game,” commented Gerland, “Schweinsteiger, Trochowski, Hummels and many others.” Their shirts now adorn the FCB junior team “Wall of Fame”.