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Bayern Munich brought six players twenty years old or younger with them to Qatar for their winter training camp: Michael Eberwein (18), Gianluca Gaudino (18), Marco Hingerl (18), Sinan Kurt (18), Mitchel Weiser (20), and Leopold Zingerle (20). Pep Guardiola was clear in his reasoning for bringing this group, "Because they have the right quality." All of them saw action in Bayern's friendly against the Qatar Stars.
Guardiola, Hermann Gerland, and Matthias Sammer spoke with them before the training camp began. With a squad as talented and as deep as Bayern's what would these younger players need to do to grab the attention of their coach? In the end, it's a really simple concept. "Wow!" them. Sammer explained.
"They need to take a chance, don't be scared and go for it. They've got fully involved, they're improving day-by-day and have integrated really well. Integration on its own isn't enough to make it. You've got to do more as a young player. You need to show a certain cheekiness and get stuck into a challenge where people react by saying: Wow!"
It's easy to say that Weiser really "got" the message. He knocked in two goals in the friendly. While his defense does leave something to be desired, Weiser showed well enough going forward from his fullback position. Sammer even bragged about him post game. "He's really cracked it," said the sporting director. "He's done very well in training over the past six months."
This stems from a conversation that Weiser had with himself over the summer. Realizing that he was letting his chance with FC Bayern slip away (Weiser's contract expires this summer.), he was honest. Weiser questioned "whether or not I've given 100 percent. Looking back, I can see I didn't always manage 100 percent." It's not every day a player, especially in his situation, admits that he wasn't giving it his all in training. When asked about his future, he said "I'm only thinking about the training camp and I want to put in 100 percent."
If Weiser has a desire to stay with Bayern past this season, he'll need to continue to impress Guardiola and Sammer. Bayern bought him from Köln due to his massive potential, and you can be sure that the club won't give up on Weiser if they still believe in him.