Now that Bayern Munich’s U-19s winter break has started, it is a great time to look back at the season so far and evaluate it. In this article, the individual performance of the members of Bayern’s U-19 squad during the first half of the season will be graded from 1-6, with 1 the best grade and 6 the worst. This encompasses matchdays 1-14 in the new U-19 Bundesliga, the performance and elimination in the single round of the DFB-Junioren-Vereinspokal that was played, as well as participation in the group stages UEFA Youth League (the U-19’s equivalent of the UEFA Champions League). Not every player has played enough minutes to be fairly rated, however. So only players who have contested at least 270 minutes will be rated. Without further ado, here are the ratings:
Goalkeepers
Leon Klanac: 2+
17, GK, 1638 minutes played, 31 goals conceded
18 games played, 31 conceded. At first, it seems like a really bad number. But in reality, Klanac is a very talented goalkeeper and he largely demonstrated that so far this season. His reflexes have been sharp, he has been commanding in the box and his ability on the ball is phenomenal. In particular, it is his unnatural calmness on the ball that is so striking. Whereas so many goalkeepers struggle to keep their nerve when forwards rush them, Klanac stares them down with genuine fearlessness and usually takes the perfect amount of time to see another passing angle open up and play a perfectly weighted pass to free the team out of the press. He did not always get it right and it cost the team some goals, but that is all part of being a young player. He got it right the vast majority of the time, which is what matters. Unfortunately, at just over 6’0”, there are serious concerns that his top end potential will be limited by being too short.
Luca Stancic: NA
17, GK, 102 minutes played, 1 goal conceded
He did not play enough, but when he did play he looked fine.
Defenders
Ljubo Puljić: 2+
17, CB, 1515 minutes played, 1 goal, 2 assists
Ljubo Puljić is a really interesting player. The 6’4”, lanky Croatian joined Bayern in a fairly noteworthy transfer back in 2023, joined the U-17s and then got promoted this season. The U-19 Croatia international is a smart player, comfortable with the ball at his feet, fairly two footed, predictably good in the air and solid in the box, all attributes he showed this season. However, his acceleration is not the best and it has let him down a fair few times as he has struggled to keep up with pacey forwards. Nevertheless, he immediately claimed one of the starting CB spots in both the U-19s for the U-19 Bundesliga as well as the Youth League amid serious competition. It has been a good season so far by the talented Puljić.
Roko Mijatović: 1-
16, CB, 1097 minutes, 1 goal, 0 assists
Roko Mijatović solidified himself as one of the two starting center backs in the team in an all-Croatian center back partnership this season, an impressive feat given his tender age of 16. In fact, the initial U-19 squad that started the seasons was packed with many 17-year-olds, a few 18-year-olds who do not play and two 16-year-olds. Mijatović is one of the two 16-year-olds on this team. If that is not impressive enough, his skills will wow you. Like his compatriot Puljić, Mijatović is very tall and uses his stature and long legs to win the majority of the duels he comes up against. What made him stand out is his ability on the ball. Puljić is very good. Mijatović, however, is on a different level. The amount of chipped passes, line breaking passes, switches of play are phenomenal and of a genuinely incredible quality. And the U-17 Croatian international’s dribbling belies his tall stature, with the youngster extremely confident in dribbling into space and moving past multiple attackers like it is nothing. This is a very promising young center back.
Luis Schäfer: 2-
17, CB, 526 minutes played, 1 goal, 0 assists
Unfortunately for Luis Schäfer, he developed into being distinctly third choice center back behind Puljić and Mijatović. He simply does not have their extraordinary talents on the ball. His passing is fine, but a clear downgrade on what the other two bring to the table. Additionally, he can be far too aggressive and leave the defense exposed unnecessarily. Other than that, however, he has had a perfectly fine season. He wins his defensive duels, his aerial duels and he demonstrates good positioning in the box. Additionally, he lives up to his name (Schäfer roughly translates to shepherd in english) by keeping the backline organized.
Erion Rexhepi: NA
18, LB, 0 minutes played
Erion Rexhepi is one of the 18-year-olds who never plays. He turns 19 in January and needs to leave to get playing time.
Deniz Ofli: 1-
17, LB, 1326 minutes played, 1 goal, 4 assists
Deniz Ofli is a personal favorite player of mine, which is mainly due to his extremely mature decision making on the ball. He has the tendency to scan the field very quickly and figure out the right pass very quickly, before executing with his usual technical brilliance. It could be a simple pass down the flank or it could be a long ball played beautifully into the run of the right winger without a moment’s hesitation. Regardless, he has the decision making to find the right pass, the timing to play it at the right moment and the technique to pull of whatever pass he wants to make. Furthermore, Ofli demonstrated a very advanced understanding of the game. One could regularly find him popping up in midfield or high up the flank, consistently changing positions with his fellow teammates and not missing a beat. The goal the Turkey U-18 international scored this season (in the 2-3 win over Augsburg’s U-19s), for example, was by taking up a midfield position and making a well timed run to beat the opposition offside trap to coolly finish beyond the goalkeeper. This was a left back, playing in midfield and then making a run and finishing like a striker. Unbelievable.
That is not to say he has been perfect. When he is faced with a one-on-one with the opposition winger, he has this frustrating habit of making a sudden dash at the winger to catch him off guard and steal the ball. That is the kind of strategy that only truly works as a child and it has seen him overcommit and leave his fellow defenders exposed multiple times. Furthermore, Ofli is neither especially tall or strong, which perhaps throws his ability to make it to the Bundesliga in doubt. Combine this with his rather liberal positioning and tendency to be hyper aggressive in the tackle and he can at times go missing when the ball is played towards Bayern’s penalty area. Still, all in all, he had a great first half of the season.
Maximilian Schuhbauer: NR
18, RB, 169 minutes, 1 goal, 1 assist
Schuhbauer’s start to the season was majorly disrupted by a meniscus injury, but he was never going to displace Magnus Dalpiaz. His most memorable moment was when he scored a late go-ahead goal against 1859+1 Munich that really should have won Bayern the game.
Iwinosa Uhuns: NR
18, RB, 0 minutes
He has been injured the entire season.
Magnus Dalpiaz: 1-
17, RB, 1753 minutes, 7 goals, 1 assist
You read that right. Magnus Dalpiaz, the regular starter at right back this season, scored 7 GOALS in the first half of the season, tied as top scorer in the league with forward Felipe Chávez. How does that even happen? Well, Dalpiaz has both an uncanny sense of finding spaces between the defenders, making the right kind of run at the right time and a powerful shot technique. Honestly, there might be a future in a role further up the pitch for him. Furthermore, Dalpiaz is a powerful athlete that only developed throughout the season. Standing at 6’0” with long limbs, wiry strength and some real speed, the Austrian can physically keep up with the best of them and completely overpowered multiple opponents this season.
However, he also demonstrated some rather glaring flaws these past months. Firstly, he is very unreliable on the ball and in prone to making some very thoughtless passes. Secondly, he is very naïve defensively. His outstanding physical skills helped make up for it from time to time this season, but his positioning and sense of when to challenge forwards is far too aggressive. This stood out in particular during the UEFA Youth League, where some skillful and speedy forwards made him look silly multiple times. He reserved several really awful performances for the highest level of U-19 football. Overall, his seasonal performance would probably have warranted a 2- but his phenomenal goal scoring rate bumps him up a lot.
Tim Hoffmann: NR
17, RB, 92 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists
The U-19 squad is, in general, rather bloated with 18-year-olds that really should have been moved on. But the squad is also particularly overstaffed at right back, particularly when one considers just how far Dalpiaz is ahead of the rest. The likes of Tim Hoffmann suffered because of this.
Overall rating: 2
While the individual performances were actually quite solid, 31 goals conceded in 18 matches tells a story of a defense that was prone to conceding sloppy goals and completely breaking down at times, such as in the 5-2 loss to PSG in the UEFA Youth League. Some of that is to be expected from young players, whose mistakes will be magnified in defense, but it is fair to say that sum was lesser than its’ parts.
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