After a goal and an assist with Croatia’s junior national team, he scored again on Friday in Burghausen: Gabriel Vidovic’s strong start to the season continues. The 17-year-old is making more and more of an impression on Bayern’s young talent. And could be the next talent to make the leap to the pros.
The Corona pandemic has also hit FC Bayern and forced the club’s management to adopt new strategies. Large transfers were largely absent, but there was a clear internal focus on youth development. The focus was also on talents from the campus. With Jamal Musiala and, most recently, Josip Stanisic, the record holders can count themselves lucky. These two youngsters have made the leap into the professional team and have been given long-term contracts until 2026 and 2025 respectively. It is clear that this personnel model, if it works as in these two cases, is very popular at Säbener Straße.
Eight goals and seven assists in 14 games
The question is: Who could be the next junior? Highly talented players abound at the state-of-the-art training facility. But for some time now, one has been standing out more and more: Stanisic’s compatriot Gabriel Vidovic. The 17-year-old has been with the FCB since the U15s, impressed in the U19s and now plays for Martin Demichelis in the second team in the regional league. And there, too, the German-Croatian is coming up trumps more and more. Eight goals and seven assists in 14 games (twelve from the start) are remarkable figures for the attacking all-rounder, who scored again on Friday in the 2-2 draw at Burghausen.
In addition, Vidovic stood out last week in the Croatian junior national teams, U 19 as well as U 21: His goal for the U 19 in striker manner was rather business as usual. But the way he took the penalty kick was worth seeing. After a great first contact, he used the ball in a tight space in the opponent’s sixteen in a technically strong way, then danced around his own axis and outdanced a defender, so that he could only be stopped by a foul.
Vidovic was already allowed to train and play under Nagelsmann during the preparation phase.
Actions like these remind one a little of the light-footedness of Jamal Musiala. Lots of instinct, snappy movements and fearless. Vidovic can play in attacking midfield as well as one row further forward in attack. The parallels to Musiala, although Vidovic does not come through the flanks, are there. Which is why the decision-makers at FC Bayern will always take a closer look – not for nothing was he allowed to train with coach Julian Nagelsmann in preparation, where he also received his first competitive practice with the professionals in the test matches against Ajax, Napoli and Mönchengladbach.
He is currently helping the second team with its mission to regain promotion to the 3rd division. To do this, Vidovic commutes daily from his hometown of Augsburg to Munich and back again. That is part of his everyday life. Just like scoring goals.
