Official: Bayern Munich inks Aleksandar Pavlović to a professional deal

Bayern Munich announced on its club website that it has signed midfielder Aleksandar Pavlović to a professional contract through 2027:

FC Bayern have handed 19-year-old Aleksandar Pavlovic a professional contract valid until 30 June 2027. The Munich-born defensive midfielder has been playing for the German record champions since the age of seven and made his Bundesliga debut in the 8-0 win over Darmstadt at the Allianz Arena last Saturday.

Pavlović was excited about the opportunity and grateful to continue to be a part of the club.

“I grew up at FC Bayern and am very happy to have now signed my first professional contract. I’ve dreamed of this since I was little. Many thanks to everyone who’s supported me at the FC Bayern Campus. I want to learn in every training session and will keep working hard on myself,” Pavlović said.

Just a few days ago, a story dropped that Pavlović was under consideration to receive his first professional contract at the club, as per Frank Linkesch (via @iMiaSanMia). Pavlović has been a part of Bayern’s youth setup since 2011. It is a massive step for the player to mark his status as a first-team member and a powerful statement from the board about their intention to provide a viable youth development pathway for young players.

In previous years, Der Reckordmeister has seen themselves lose promising youth talents such as Niklas Dorsch who didn’t think he was given a fair chance with the first team. While it’s easy to look at Dorsch now and think that Bayern made the right choice in not giving him more first-team minutes, young players wanting to leave due to a lack of opportunities does not paint a good picture to other youth talents Bayern may be looking bring on or keep hold of.

The issue of Bayern not having enough home-grown players in the squad has been slowly diminishing since the integration of Josip Stanišić in the 2021/22 Bundesliga season, prior to that the most recent prominent examples of players being promoted to the first team were Thomas Müller, David Alaba, and Toni Kroos. Players like Stanišić, Frans Krätzig, and hopefully Pavlović are changing the status quo.

Bayern have come under harsh criticism this season for their lack of depth, but could this poor squad planning be a good thing if it results in the emergence of players like Pavlović and Krätzig? Be sure to let us know what you think about the youth situation at the club in the comments below!