How would Bayern Munich line up without their 2013 treble winners?
With the likes of Lucas Hernandez, Benjamin Pavard, Leon Goretzka and Alphonso Davies all part of Bayern Munich's plan for the future, the Bundesliga record champions have set about rejuvenating their squad.
Six of the eight members of the current Bayern squad who won the treble in 2013 are in their 30s, so bundesliga.com picks a team that — with an average age of just 22 — threatens to down top-flight and continental rivals for many seasons to come.
GOALKEEPER
Christian Früchtl, 19
Ask Michael Rensing and Thomas Kraft, who had to fill the gloves of Oliver Kahn, just how difficult it can be to step in after a legend at the Allianz Arena.
Früchtl will hope to enjoy better fortunes when he eventually takes over from Manuel Neuer, and everything suggests the Bayern goal will — quite literally — be in safe hands when he does.
At 6'4", he is already the same height as Neuer, and given he is impressing already at his young age, there is a chance he will be even bigger in every sense.
“His coordination is great despite his size and his foot size,” said Neuer, who should know a high-quality colleague when he sees one. “That is tough to learn. The talent is there in any case, and he has good conditioning."
Excelling as he works in the shadow of the world's number one, as well as the excellent Sven Ulreich, has also proven Früchtl's mental strength and fine-tuned a 'no fear' attitude to the potentially weighty mantle he is likely to inherit.
"If I was scared I could pack up now," he said in a recent interview. "There is pressure in every position. That’s something you have to deal with even if things aren't going smoothly."
DEFENDERS
Joshua Kimmich, 24
The fact he was born in Rottweil — the town that gave the combative dog its name — says much about the character of Kimmich. Not that you can boil the Germany international master-of-all-trades down to a Bundesliga battler.
As tenacious as they come, Kimmich also has the football intelligence to adapt to positions across the back four and in midfield — just like Pavard — though his prodigious qualities have been best put to use in slotting so sweetly into the void left at right-back by Philipp Lahm for club and country.
He has impressed Bayern coaches from Pep Guardiola to Niko Kovac via Carlo Ancelotti and Jupp Heynckes, while Alexander Zorniger — who coached him at RB Leipzig — knew VfB Stuttgart had made "a fatal mistake" in allowing Kimmich to go to Bayern.
"I'd like to beat up everyone involved in this decision," Zorniger said when the sale went through while he was Stuttgart coach. What has happened since is unlikely to have calmed him down.
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Niklas Süle, 23
If the Incredible Hulk were to replace Süle at the heart of the Bayern defence, only the Bundesliga record champions' kit manager would notice. They would definitely need a bigger shirt…
Süle is more slightly built — only just slightly at a man-mountain 6'5" — and is significantly less green, but you suspect both are equally formidable propositions if you're an opposing forward.
In stark contrast to his fictional doppelgänger, Süle has supreme control over his emotions, rarely putting a foot out of line in keeping the tightest of reins on the Bundesliga's finest attacking talents.
The Turkish FA once approached him about the possibility of playing for them with his surname apparently sounding like his family had roots in the country. It is, in fact, a legacy of Hungarian heritage, and the Frankfurt-born centre-back's future lies squarely with Germany and Bayern. Perhaps the Hulk would fancy a game for Turkey…
Benjamin Pavard, 22
The revelation of the 2018 FIFA World Cup has yet to pull on a Bayern shirt, but when the France international swaps Stuttgart for Munich next summer, look out!
"They asked me my opinion," said Corentin Tolisso, who gave the Bayern bosses his thoughts on his Les Bleus teammate. "I said he was a very good player. I gave a very positive opinion."
Tolisso will surely see his view backed up on the pitch.
Pavard took a risk in leaving Lille to join Stuttgart — then in Bundesliga 2 — in summer 2016, but it has paid off handsomely, and the ease with which he made the step up back then, and subsequently into France's World Cup-winning side, suggests his imminent Bayern switch will be taken in his graceful stride.
His stunning Goal of the Tournament strike against Argentina in Russia earned him his own song from the France fans; Bayern's terrace chant composers must already be working hard.
Lucas Hernandez, 23
Pavard wasn’t the only Bayern-bound Frenchman to lift the World Cup last summer, with the Bavarians confirming their acquisition of Hernandez from Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.
The Madrid-born defender, who is equally comfortable operating at left-back or through the middle, actually started more games than Pavard in Russia as the only defender in Didier Deschamps’ squad to feature in every game.
"I'm very happy that in Lucas Hernandez we've been able to sign one of the best defensive players in the world," gushed Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic. “I'm proud to be able to fight for every title with Bayern in the future,” enthused the player himself.
Hernandez’s trophy cabinet already glitters with a UEFA Europa League crown and a UEFA Super Cup, and it wouldn’t be safe to bet against him adding to his burgeoning collection in Bavaria.
MIDFIELDERS
Corentin Tolisso, 24
The France international's World Cup win in summer 2018 should have been the springboard for a marquee campaign for Bayern. A serious knee injury curtailed that ambition, but it is surely only a temporary setback for Bayern's club record signing.
That the shrewd spenders were willing to splash out on the Lyon-grown midfielder says much. As the man who was in charge when Tolisso landed, Ancelotti, said: "The market is a bit mad right now — and Bayern isn't a mad club."
They were crazy about the Frenchman's je ne sais quoi though: precision passing blended with industrious harrying, goal and assist-delivering vision allied to titanium toughness.
"He’s a player that the Bayern fans can look forward to," CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge promised when Tolisso signed. Six goals and four assists in 17 top-flight starts in his maiden season strongly suggests that when Tolisso returns, it'll be with a bang.
Leon Goretzka, 24
Bayern love a marauding German midfielder. Lothar Matthäus, Mario Basler, Michael Ballack, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos… and now Goretzka, and no-one is sniggering at the comparison.
Like Matthäus, Basler and Ballack, Goretzka was tagged 'the next big thing' elsewhere, but the summer arrival from Schalke — on a free transfer — is just the sort of player Bayern fans want to get their buckles swashed.
Just over half a season into what promises to be a long and happy relationship with the Bavarian giants, the Germany international already has six goals, which is nearly half as many as he struck in over a century of matches in Gelsenkirchen.
Future captain material? Decide for yourselves… but the correct answer is 'Definitely!' "I happily take on responsibility," explained Goretzka, who has already led out his nation up to U21 level. "I try to define my game by it a little bit."
Renato Sanches, 21
It has not been an easy start to his Bayern career, but anyone who has written off the Portugal international must have sleepwalked through UEFA Euro 2016.
It was Sanches' immense displays in his country's successful European title tilt, overshadowing those even of Cristiano Ronaldo, that must have had Bayern bosses congratulating themselves they had snapped him up before the tournament.
As Mats Hummels said after seeing the powerful midfielder ride roughshod over former club Benfica in the UEFA Champions League group stage this season, Sanches is "difficult to stop", allying as he does a boxer's physique with the silkiest of touches in a potent, all-round package.
The powerhouse midfielder is also set for a busy end to 2018/19, with Bayern coach Kovac assuring Sanches that his time will come to shine on the pitch. It will just be up to the talented youngster to take it.
FORWARDS
Alphonso Davies, 18
Mention 'Edmonton' to any sports fan, and the name 'Wayne Gretzky' will quickly be fired back at you. But 'The Great One' may soon find himself with some serious competition…
"Our little Alphonso," said Grade 6 teacher and sports coach Melissa Guzzo in Edmonton where Davies grew up. "He's just one of those kids who had a permanent smile on his face."
The Bayern powers-that-be are sporting broad grins too after adding a player — "a huge talent" according to Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic — who has already overcome much bigger hurdles than lunging opposition defenders.
The journey from a Ghanaian refugee camp to the Bayern dressing room via Canada and the MLS is as unique as the teenage winger the Bavarian giants have added to their squad.
Davies' travels are far from over too with the former Vancouver Whitecaps youngster only starting out on a career that promises so much when he stepped onto a Bundesliga pitch for the first time in the closing stages of the Matchday 19 win over Stuttgart.
"That he has a lot of potential is no secret," said Alaba, once a teenage prodigy himself. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have signed him."
Serge Gnabry, 23
Gnabry’s start to life in Munich proper has been electric. The former Stuttgart and Arsenal youngster signed for Bayern from Werder Bremen in 2017 but immediately went out on loan to Hoffenheim at his own request.
Under Julian Nagelsmann the attacking all-rounder contributed 17 goals in 22 Bundesliga appearances. After a slow start under Kovac, he has picked up the pace substantially and has six goals in his last 12 competitive outings, including braces in a 2-1 win at former club Bremen on Matchday 13 and at Hertha Berlin to see Bayern through to the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup.
Predominantly used as a winger, the 23-year-old isn’t just seen using his blistering pace out wide but his technical ability in the middle of the pitch. He was often deployed as an attacking midfielder or second striker for Werder and Hoffenheim, and his eye for a teammate could see him as the man to drive the record champions forward in the future.
"With him, we have a weapon in our game. He has pace and knows how to make goals," gushed Salihamidzic after seeing Gnabry's match-winning two-goal haul in Bremen. "He is showing that more and more."
Kingsley Coman, 22
"It gives us another dimension going forward," was how Kovac described Gnabry and Coman's contribution to his side. Coman has already proven he is a bespoke fit for Ribery down the Bayern left or Arjen Robben down the right.
Though Douglas Costa's departure meant headline writers were deprived of 'CoCo' snugly replacing 'Robbery', Bayern look to have at least successfully found one successor to the iconic wing duo with ex-Bayern boss Guardiola describing Coman as having "huge quality in one-on-ones".
Despite already having a sizeable haul of silverware with Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and Bayern that would merit a lengthy jail sentence had he stolen it, his six league titles have not diminished his hunger to improve.
"We're going to have a lot of fun with him," said Jerome Boateng when Coman arrived, and everyone — bar opposing full-backs — is enjoying it too.
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