Alphonso Davies: “The first time I came to Bayern Munich, I could not believe it.”

Joining FC Bayern Munich in January from the Vancouver Whitecaps for a Major League Soccer record fee, Alphonso Davies is settling and adjusting to life at the Bundesliga champions. In a recent interview with the BBC, Davies described his first day with Die Roten:

The first time I came to Bayern Munich, I could not believe it. When I got into the locker room, the first person I saw was Arjen Robben and at that time I could not believe what my eyes were seeing.

The 18-year-old’s experience of meeting Robben for the first time is one many Bayern fans can sympathize with:

He came up to me, shook my hand and said: “Hi, I am Arjen.” In my head, I thought: “You do not have to introduce yourself.”

Though overwhelmed, Davies enjoyed life in his new surroundings at the Säbener Straße. The Canadian began to learn from the very best. “On my first day at training, I was working with Arjen and I was excited.” Davies was very impressed by the intensity of the training (Bundesliga.com):

The rondos, the 5v2s, it’s incredible. The first time I was in the middle I got megged by Jerome [Boateng] twice. It was like a big comedy show.

Davies also is savoring his teammates’ feats of athleticism at Säbener Straße. He said,

David Alaba and Robert Lewandowski set it up to hit free-kicks and hit bangers only. Manu Neuer, the brick wall, stops everything. It’s very hard to score against this guy. I thought I could score past him, tried to pass the ball into the net, nope. Hard shot, nope.

Davies made his Bundesliga debut on 27 January against VfB Stuttgart, scoring his first goal for Bayern in a six goal thrashing of 1. FSV Mainz 05 on 17 March. The Canadian is undoubtedly an exciting prospect who has already showed glimpses of his ability in a Bayern shirt. As the Bavarians pursue a record-extending eighth consecutive Bundesliga trophy, as well as defending the DFB-Pokal and aspiring for success in Europe, Davies has the prospect an exciting and rewarding career in Munich.