Report: Bayern Munich and Manchester United eyeing Herenveen gem

According to a report in the Mirror, Bayern Munich (along with a list of basically every other top club in Europe) are currently sniffing around Daley Sinkgraven, a 19-year-old central midfielder who plies his trade at SC Heerenveen in the Eredivise.

First things first: It's the Mirror. It's a pretty bad publication and they generate a lot of superfluous junk. I'd bet that the odds this fall under that category is probably 95% just based on the way the entire story is presented. However, in this case the junk is actually worth talking about

There's actually a lot to like about this transfer rumor. Daley Sinkgraven is a talented and extremely versatile midfielder. He's capable of playing on the left side of attack, as well as in central midfield. However, he's also more recently shown an expanding pedigree playing as a deep lying playmaker. He's already playing at a level above his years and would be an excellent developmental prospect for Bayern Munich. There are two things that stand out about about this Sinkgraven rumor though in particular beyond just an "hey, buy all the new shinies" aspect.

One, his positional ability makes him immediately valuable to a Guardiola team where roles are fluid. Being able to impact the match from any number of positions is extremely important and these are the kind of players Pep Guardiola wants and uses in midfield.

Two, Bayern Munich have been investing very heavily in some of the best youth prospects in Germany and Europe. The last few years have seen them buy Mitchell Weiser and Sinan Kurt, while aggressively pushing the likes of Pierre Hojbjerg, Gianluca Gaudino, Julian Green, and Lukas Scholl into playing against bigger and better competition. Daley Sinkgraven is another player who lines up perfectly in the developmental vein that Bayern Munich are aggressively mining.

It's certainly one to keep your eye on but definitely not something to hang your hat on. Yet.