Youngster Bright Arrey-Mbi could play for Bayern Munich’s reserves next season

Bayern Munich youngster Bright Arrey-Mbi could be a star in the making. The 16-year-old has impressed this season playing for Bayern’s U19’s after coming to Munich from Chelsea’s youth ranks. The promising center-back has made a total of 18 appearances for Bayern’s U19’s this season and has been one of their standout, most consistent performers.

Per an interview with Sport1, Bayern’s campus boss Jochen Sauer said that he purposely put moved Arrey-Mbi up to the U19 squad to challenge him:

Bright has settled in Munich very well and already made big steps forward. We have played him exclusively on the U19 team although he’s nominally a U17 player in order to challenge him more individually.

As an added bonus, Hansi Flick invited Arrey-Mbi to Bayern’s winter training camp in Qatar to train with the senior squad and a handful of players from the reserve team. The 16-year-old even received plaudits from some of Bayern’s senior players. “Bright is already a beast, he surprised me,” exclaimed Joshua Kimmich, while David Alaba added, “His athleticism and understandingof the game are already very far along. I see a lot of potential in him.”

Moving forward, the plan is to have Arrey-Mbi see out the season with Bayern’s U19’s, but Sauer said it’s a realistic possibility that may play regularly with Bayern II next season:

If his development continues to progress so positively, it is not impossible that he may already play in the adult team feature regularly with our amateurs. But we first want to wait and see.

Because Arrey-Mbi’s contract runs through 2022, Sauer said that there is not yet a long-term plan for the 16-year-old starlet. Sauer and his team assess their youth players’ development regularly and adjust accordingly.