YOUNG GUNS
Youngsters like Jadon Sancho, Reiss Nelson, Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Luka Jovic (left to right above) are given the chance to shine in the Bundesliga in a way that no other league allows!
WHAT DO Luka Jovic, Jadon Sancho, Reiss Nelson, Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz all have in common, aside from being young and incredibly gifted footballers? They all count the Bundesliga as their playground.
The prodigious quintet have been tearing it up in Germany’s top flight in 2018/19 with 23 goals and 13 assists between them after 12 matches. And the best bit? The oldest doesn’t turn 21 until next month.
He is Jovic, the Benfica-owned Eintracht Frankfurt striker blazing a trail at the top of the scoring charts with nine goals in 638 minutes of Bundesliga action. The Serbian has 34 shots in 10 appearances, seven of them starts, meaning he is scoring at a rate of one per 3.8 attempts on goal. Against Fortuna Düsseldorf on matchday 8, he became the first Serbian to net a Bundesliga hat-trick and the youngest to hit five in a single game.
Sharing the limelight are two English teens. Boasting four goals and a league-best six assists in 12 appearances, former Manchester City youth player Sancho is packing quite the punch at league leaders Borussia Dortmund. His best friend down at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim isn’t far off the pace, either. Arsenal loanee Nelson is currently the club’s top scorer on six goals in eight Bundesliga outings.
Sancho’s brilliance has meant less game time for Dortmund teammate Pulisic – not that the performances of USA’s hottest player have suffered. The 20-year-old grabbed a late equaliser at Hoffenheim on matchday 4, and also has assists in wins against FC Nürnberg and VfB Stuttgart.
Of course, giving youth a chance is deeply engrained in the Bundesliga ethos. Pulisic was just 17 when he made his Bundesliga debut under former Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel in January 2016. The Pennsylvanian has since broken all manner of records for club and country, most recently becoming the USA’s youngest captain in the November friendly against Italy.
The same applies to Bayer 04 Leverkusen home-grown ace Havertz. After joining Die Werkself aged 11, the Aachen-born midfielder was awarded the Fritz Walter gold medal as Germany’s top Under-17 player of 2016. He duly made his Bundesliga debut at 17, and has scarcely been out of the Leverkusen team since. This season alone, the now full Germany international, who also claimed the Fritz Walter gold medal in the Under-19 category in 2018, is already on three Bundesliga goals and two assists.
Havertz’s rapid ascent is nothing out of the ordinary in Bundesliga circles, however. Countless stars past and present have been nurtured at grassroots level and unleashed in the Bundesliga.
Schalke’s Knappenschmiede academy is very much in the vanguard, having churned out, among others, top-level players such as World Cup winners Julian Draxler, Benedikt Höwedes, Manuel Neuer and Mesut Özil.
Bayern Munich to the bone, meanwhile, seven-time Bundesliga winner Thomas Müller has been a member of the record German champions’ family since he was 10.
No wonder the Bundesliga has a reputation for being the playground for all kids bright and beautiful.