Bayern Munich Alumni: Milos Pantovic set to extend with VfL Bochum?

Former Bayern Munich youth player Milos Pantovic is set to begin contract extension talks with VfL Bochum this month. With his contract expiring at the end of the current season, Pantovic is likely to agree to a new deal to keep him in the Ruhr for the foreseeable future.

The converted midfielder has become a valuable asset to Bochum and would be a fairly hot commodity on the transfer market this summer a freshly-turned 26-year-old player. However, it’s likely the Bochum will work to reach an agreement on a contract extension now as they’re facing the possibility of losing three other midfielders this summer in Eduard Löwen, Elvis Rexhbecaj, and Robert Tesche.

And, hey, two goals on Tuesday to help your team to the Quarterfinals of the DFB Pokal doesn’t hurt.

Pantovic signed on a free transfer with Bochum in the summer of 2018 after playing for every single Bayern youth team since he joined the club in 2007. His departure was standard fare for a lot of young players coming through the Bayern system — there’s just simply more playing time elsewhere.

The Serbian only received one official cap with the Bayern first team. That came back during the 2015-16 season under Pep Guardiola. He spent the rest of his time with Bayern II, making 96 appearances and scoring 34 goals.

A lot of people often point to the failures of Bayern not being able to get a bunch of players from the youth teams through to the first team; however, we should also point out the successes of former Bayern youth players littered throughout the Bundesliga like Pantovic, Lasse Günther, Angelo Stiller, Chris Richards, Jeong Woo-yeong, Timothy Tillman, Adrian Fein, Niklas Dorsch, Alessandro Schöpf, and Benno Schmitz. And, of course, let’s not forget about the two big players at Borussia Dortmund in Mats Hummels and Emre Can.