Bayern Munich part with three academy players, including a ‘boy wonder’

Three under-17 players – Antonio Trograncic, Aleksandar Kovacevic and Tidiane M’Baye – are leaving Bayern Munich academy, the club announced on its website on Tuesday.

Trograncic, a 17-year-old midfielder, was supposedly the best prospect of them all with Munich news outlets calling him Wunderknabe, or “boy wonder”. Former Bayern coach Pep Guardiola invited him to play with the first team last season, but he has made just one start (10 appearances) for Bayern’s U17 this season. He will head to Dutch super club Ajax, who have a strong reputation of developing young players.

Meanwhile, Kovacevic, 17, and M’Baye, 16, are both headed to Hoffenheim, who arguably have the strongest academy system in Germany. Kovacevic, a midfielder, made 9 appearances (no starts) for Bayern’s U17 team and M’Baye, a forward, scored two goals in six appearances for Bayern’s U16 team.

“We thank these three players for the performances they showed for Bayern in the last few years,” said Wolfgang Dremmler, head of Bayern’s academy teams. “We wish them the best at their new jobs and will continue to attentively follow their progress.”

These three departures comes on the heels of Lukas Scholl’s move to fourth-tier side Wacker Nordhausen. David Alaba remains the last first-team regular Bayern have produced from their academy system.