Because of Corona, the jump to professional is particularly difficult. This is also true for Mainz 05, which is known for its good youth work. Ben Bobzien has now made it.
“Our ambition is to link the professionals and the NLZ even more closely together “, head coach Bo Svensson had said recently. “It’s not that difficult to formulate, but we also have to underline it with action,” said Svensson. The big jump between the U23 or even the U19 is made even more difficult by Corona. Due to the pandemic, only four match days were played in the 2020/21 Junior Bundesliga.
The 18-year-old attacking player is collecting plenty of scorer points at junior level
As a result, the development of talent at the Wolfgang Frank Campus has also stagnated, which is why no top talent has been signed to a professional contract this year apart from goalkeeper Lasse Rieß, who was, however, brought up from the U 23. Today, offensive player Ben Bobzien signed a professional contract until 2025. The 18-year-old currently plays for the U 19s in the A-Junioren-Bundesliga Süd/Südwest (ten games, seven goals, three assists) and also made appearances for the U 23s in the Regionalliga Südwest (two games, one assist)
Together with two other young players, Bobzien took part in the professionals’ training camp in Austria in the summer, played a few test matches and was on the bench for the season opener against RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga. At that time, Mainz had to do without a complete eleven due to quarantine orders and Corona infections. This autumn, Bobzien was also called up to the DFB’s U-19 national team for the first time, for which he has since played five games (one goal).
Nine current professionals come from the Mainz NLZ
Nine players from the current Mainz squad were trained at the NLZ on Bruchweg, where Svensson was once a youth coach. These include regular players Robin Zentner, Stefan Bell, Leandro Barreiro and Jonathan Burkardt. They are joined by Finn Dahmen, Paul Nebel, Niklas Tauer, Merveille Papela and Rieß.