FanPost

Transfer 2014-15: They Won the World Cup, where are they (Schürrle aside)? German and Bundesliga targets

Germany won the 2014 World Cup handily less than month ago, thrashing the host nation 7-1 in the semi-final, before beating the team headlined by the world's best player in the final. What's more they weren't even at full strength throughout the tournament.

Despite the obvious awesomeness of the Nationalmannschaft we have not really been linked to any, apart of course from Toni Kroos (who went to Real Madrid for what was ultimately a very reasonable price) and Sami Khedira (available now RM have Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez, for supposedly around 30 million euros).

Given the tremendous recent success of Bundesliga clubs (Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in particular), this doesn't seem quite right. I understand that World Cup success inflates the price of potential targets, but I'm not interested solely in Nationalmannschaft stars from Brazil, there is a rich vein of youth talent in Germany and many highly impressive import stars; our tapping of the talent repositories of Belgium and Brazil is well established, a third 'B' needs adding - the Bundesliga (potentially even Bundesliga's as Austria is undergoing something of a footballing revolution akin to Belgium's, albeit about 10 years behind).

So who am I talking about...(please note I'm discussing Bundesliga players - largely, but not specifically German players).

Defence

I’m a fan of the Schalke pairing, Benedikt Höwedes and Joel Matip, Höwedes is obviously a strong leader and would be a good replacement for John Terry in our set up. Matip is one of the top, young defenders on the continent last season and is both a smart interceptor of the ball and a fearless tackler in front of goal. If he has one detriment it’s his temper. (The man we really want from Schalke is probably neither of them; it's Julian Draxler [more on him later] - though neither Matip nor Höwedes would be far behind and we should also have an eye on Leon Goretzka, Max Meyer, Sead Kolasinac, Kaan Ayhan, Tim Bodenröder, Donis Avdijaj, Thilo Kehrer, Hendrik Lohmar, Felix Platte, Patryk Dragon, Oguzhan Aydogan and Maurice Multaup).

Jonathan Tah, a Germany U17 international, is considered one of the brightest prospects in the Bundesliga and is being scouted by Man U he'd make a good addition. Instead of waxing lyrical, I'm suggesting a video instead (sorry I couldn't get it to embed properly).

Now I know that anyone can put a video stringing together some highlights on Youtube and say a player is awesome, all I can say in reply to that is - Tah is the real deal, we should should sign him, he's going to be great.

Other young stars also abound, Hoffenheim and Germany U18 international Niklas Süle is impressing in a poor (well not poor but well one-dimensional) Hoffenheim side, Süle, teammate, Kevin Akpoguma who can play at right back or in the centre is also worth a look. FC Nurnburg's Niklas Stark captain's Germany U19 and is obviously being looked at as a potential future leader. He is also a player that is capable of playing in the defensive midfield, central defence and also in a more advanced central midfield position and his understanding of the game and ability to deal with pressure makes him an extremely exciting prospect. Frankfurt’s Marc-Oliver Kempf is tall, strong, only 18 years old and the biggest defensive prospects in German football at the moment. Kempf made his Bundesliga debut at the age of 17 in November 2012 and while Frankfurt lost that match, Kempf showed plenty of signs that he is one player we would be seeing a lot more of in the coming future. The 18-year-old can play at centre-back and in defensive midfield and has been a staple for Eintracht Frankfurt’s second team and the U-19s. Senior team coach Armin Veh has even used him in the Europa League this season and Kemp has also been part of the Germany youth setup with since the U-16 level and he’s a serious talent for us to be looking at. Antonio Rüdiger, Stuttgart’s young defensive rock, big powerful and already a full German international at 21, a good cheap option if we fail to land Varane in my opinion.

Looking to Bayern Munich, they have a few CBs too many by all accounts, the Dante revelation and the addition of Jan Kirchhoff next season will add to Holger Badstuber and Jerome Boateng and the semi-regular stand in in Javi Martinez (and the even more occasional Diego Contento. Add to this interest in a number of high profile CB targets, the previously mentioned Aymeric Laporte, Roma's Mehdi Benatia, SC Freiburg's Matthias Ginter, and Real Sociedad's Íñigo Martinez and most recently Aston Villa youth and England U17 captain Easah Suliman (though he’s obviously a more long term option). More recently, Argentina's largest news source, Clarin, have claimed that back Ezequiel Garay will be joining Bayern Munich this summer on a €15M transfer.

Bayern obviously see an issue with their current central defensive set up, as our friends across at Bavarian Football Works have already examined. Should Bayern also add another defender, which is not out of the question, there has been quite a lot of transfer talk about their three current centre backs, Boateng, Dante and Badstuber, linking them with big clubs overseas (Italy, Spain and England) as well as mid-table Bundesliga clubs (where presumably they'd be guaranteed playing time). Now presumably they won’t be keen to see any leave, given they view their current arrangement as inadequate, which given Badstuber’s injury, Martinez being played out of position and with the arrival of Kirchoff (delayed by his loan to Schalke, but only delayed) and potentially another CB, someone will be short playing time out of Dante/Boateng/Badstuber/Kirchoff/???.

Now of the potential available trio - Dante, Boateng and Badstuber, who would we want? Dante is a weapon and though we’d only get a few years out of him, he’s already 30, that would be OK, we’ve got Zouma, Christensen, Brady, Ake, Chalobah, Kalas, Omeruo and Suljic coming through (assuming we don’t add any further - which based on past transfer windows experience seems unlikely). He’d be expensive and we’d face competition for him too; Man Utd and Man City have been interested in recent months. Jerome Boateng would be a good fit, Man City made a big mistake in losing him and he can play across the back four, which would be useful. Again we’d likely face competition, with Man Utd and Liverpool apparently interested. Holger Badstuber was the pick of the three 18 months ago, but given his woeful injury run, he’d be a risk now, but that would probably also make him cheaper and if we can deal for him and he regains his fitness, he could be great again.

There are others too who deserve consideration; Swiss-Spanish left wingback star Ricardo Rodriguez (who we all also want), Neven Subotic, Marian Sarr, Matthias Ginter, Shkodran Mustafi, David Alaba, Sebastian Jung, Wendell, Philipp Wollscheid

Midfield

When one thinks of German defensive midfielders these days, they think of the two Bender brothers, Lars and Sven whilst either would be a good signing and both would obviously be fantastic, I don't rate our chances of signing either of them (let alone both) as very high, but that could be changing, Sven Bender has stated in Kicker, that he would be open to a move to the Premier League in the future if a concrete offer was made. The Borussia Dortmund man, who endured a difficult last campaign after an injury ruled him out of contention in February, Bender noted, ‘I really like English football. Outside of the Bundesliga, it would fit my style best. Should I ever consider a move, the Premier League would be the only league coming into my mind.’

Johannes Geis who has recently moved to FSV Mainz from SpVgg Greuther Fürth is a rising star in this field and is also quite worth a look as he is one of the most defensively minded defensive mids playing today, a true defender in a more advanced position as opposed to a regista or a libero. As Mainz midfield anchor Geis was key in protecting the backline, though unlike his role at Greuther Fürth, he’s had another important role at Mainz, transitioning to attack. Where Geis excelled in particular was always finding the right balance between the two roles. His instincts are impressive for a player his age and he always seems to know when and where to make a pass, tackle or take a shot. Hannover 96's Andre Hoffman is similar to Geis and is also worth a look, and may in fact have the greater potential of the two.

Dortmund’s big man in midfield Kevin Großkreutz (Grosskruetz from here on so I don’t have to keep adding symbols – I mean no offence to any German speakers, I’m just lazy) had a great 2013-14 season, which, given the injury crisis in Dortmund meant that Klopp needed Grosskreutz to step up more than ever. Given how the 25 year old has performed both in midfield and defence this season, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Klopp has called him one of the most intelligent players in his squad. Not my first choice, but he'd certainly add some muscle and some depth to the squad.

Yannick Gerhardt, FC Koln’s young midfield star and 2013 Silver Fritz Walter Medalist is yet another in this seemingly endless crop of impressive young German midfielders. A regular for Germany U20, he’s already got a lot of minutes under his belts for Koln, and he’s been quite impressive, his value is sure to rise.

There are a number of midfielders whom I would like the club to look at potentially poaching from Bayern Munich. One player who I think would make an ideal addition would be David Alaba. Though often employed as a LB he's equally adept a player as a DM. For Bayern, Alaba is an integral future part of their set up - we will struggle to get him. That may not be the case for other Munich based options however, there are plenty of questions being asked about where Javi Martinez fits in a Guardiola led Bayern - the most likely answer is at centre back, but with Dante, Jan Kirchhoff, Holger Badstuber and Jerome Boateng already there and expensive new signings arriving as well, the big money that could be made through selling Martinez could be very tempting, and remain so despite the sale of Luiz Gustavo.

There is now a suggestion that Martinez, along with potentially Thomas Müller, Mario Götze or even Mr. Bayern himself - Bastian Schweinsteiger might leave Bayern Munich (http://bit.ly/1ndncpn , http://bit.ly/1nSHJCl , http://bit.ly/1i9szAP most links relating to Javi Martinez are with Barcelona at this point). I’d happily add any and all of the four (I don’t seriously think all four will become available, but two or possibly three might – most likely Javi Martinez and either Thomas Müller/Mario Götze [hard to call, one leaving would open a spot for the other], Schweinsteiger is getting on, but he still is Bayern they have to keep Schweinsteiger, particularly if Martinez goes as well. If Martinez does become available he’d be an awesome addition alongside Nemanja Matic and (hopefully Paul Pogba/Arturo Vidal – imagine that for the middle 3 in a 4-3-3!). If we were to see Müller or Götze arrive (which is I think is fair to say is highly unlikely to begin with – while there is clearly discontent at Bayern I can’t say it is likely either will leave).

Leon Goretzka, was being sought by a number of other major European clubs prior to his move this transfer window from Bochum to Schalke. Some believe him to be the best talent in Germany coming through and is already subject of intense interest from many clubs. Standing at 6ft 2 inches, Goretzka is good in the air and is known for his good ball control. He is not afraid to take a shot from distance and is able to pick out defence splitting balls. A regular for Germany at a variety now of youth levels, he looks set for the very top. I think he remains almost a must buy for Chelsea; big, fast, mobile with good skills, he's being rightly compared with former Chelsea star Michael Ballack. He was awarded the Fritz Walter medal as Germany's most outstanding 17 year-old, and would be a huge asset for us. A central midfielder, his former manager Peter Neururer dubbed him "the talent of the century" but he has yet to perform at that level for Schalke, with niggling injuries having hampered his progress so far, limiting him only to one start (in late August) and 264 minutes of Bundesliga football in 8 matches, scoring one goal in the process. However, Goretzka is one of the most talented footballers of his generation, with his passing and creative skills at the fore of his talents, and he will no doubt grow as a player with experience and confidence.

Julian Draxler, Schalke’s other potential Lampard replacement, signed a new contract just recently, but for a club like Chelsea, that would simply raise his buy-out clause, it certainly does not preclude us from signing him. Yet another impressive young German attacker, Draxler would fit in nicely with our current set up of attacking options, and he also won a Fritz Walter medal in 2011, further like Goretzka, prior to his signing anew with Schalke he was heavily feted by Europe’s major clubs, particularly Real Madrid, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea. Draxler is primarily an attacking central midfielder whose creativity and lethal shooting capabilities make him an ideal player to play just behind the striker. However, he can also drift into the wider areas when needed as his pace and delivery from the wing is enticing to witness.

Schalke also have a third young and rather impressive attacking midfielder, though he represents more perhaps the next Marko Marin than the next Frank Lampard. Max Meyer’s 5ft 6 1/2in frame is slight when compared with the 6ft plus frames of Julian Draxler and Leon Goretzka, but he has also been recognised as the player of last year's UEFA U17 Championship and won the silver Fritz Walter behind Goretzka, and while he won’t replace Frank Lampard for Chelsea, he is still worthy of some consideration due to his abundant attacking prowess. In fact, Meyer is already a well-worn fixture in Schalke’s attack and has apparently already been the subject of Chelsea interest (http://bit.ly/1t0ooPI ). His sensational attacking runs and passes as Schalke’s starting central attacking midfielder are absolutely crucial to S04′s attack. Meyer possesses remarkable speed and exceptional vision in placing passes. Through the Hinrunde, Meyer has 3 assists (10 attempted assists) and a goal this season. He completes about 86% of his passes, which, considering that these many of these passes are played around the opponent’s box, is a very impressive rate. Given Meyer’s immediate and big impact, it’s easy to forget that he’s only 18 years old – certainly he’s one of the very best U20 players in the world right now.

Better than Kroos, better than Draxler, better than Meyer, better than Goretzka, better than Brandt, most likely better than Götze and certainly more attainable – it could only be Marco Reus. Marco Reus’ performances, impact and influence at Dortmund were second to none in 2013-14. First the figures; Reus scored 16 goals and a Bundesliga leading 14 assists. He was directly involved in almost half of Dortmund’s goals this season. The numbers are even more impressive in all competitions where he had a hand in an incredible 46 goals. Just from a statistical perspective, his impact is enormous. Reus was the engine behind Dortmund’s attacks. Aside from being a prolific goal scorer he was also the team’s primary creative hub. What makes his performances truly impressive is the context in which they happened, a season where the club was depleted by injuries. Player after player went down throughout the season and Dortmund’s resources were stretched thinner than ever before under Klopp. Reus thrived and instead he picked up his game and helped his side see out the season in better form than any other team in the league. In his last eight games, Reus created or scored 13 goals. If Reus was world class last season this year he truly nailed down his place as one of the game’s elite players.

Young Benjamin Heinrichs represents the next generation (following Brandt’s generation), with the Bayer 04 Leverkusen midfielder already emanating an air of authority on the ball. Equally comfortable seeking possession as he is spreading play, Henrichs also showed he had an eye for goal. Not only his tall frame made him stand head and shoulders above his opponents; an uncanny maturity made him a particularly imposing presence.

Yet another option from Germany is Hamburg’s youth sensation Hakan Çalhanoğlu. Çalhanoğlu has already been strongly been linked with a move Chelsea (amongst other clubs). His set pieces are always dangerous, whether it’s a corner, a penalty or a free kick, no matter how far out. His awesome long range efforts would excellent replacement Lampard (historically being one of our key free kick/penalty takers). Calhanoglu is not purely a set-piece specialist though, his first goal in the Bundesliga came via him cutting in from the left wing and shooting the ball past the hapless keeper, who should have saved it. He has played on the left wing as an inverted winger, though he is more suited to a central attacking midfield role, but can move around forwards and backwards in the middle, especially to pick the ball up from his own half and place those long pinpoint passes to the strikers, which if he arrives should spell the end of Mohammed Salah (though it wouldn’t solve our need for a true right winger).

Bayern also possess a young German-American star Julian Green. The Tampa Bay born winger has attracted a lot of buzz in recent months as he progressed through the ranks at Bayern. His dual citizenship status makes him eligible for both Germany and the US and with his impressive development continuing both nations will hope he decides in their favour. Green has been allowed to travel and train with the first team this past year and has made massive strives in his game. Last year he signed a professional contract and made his debut in the Champions’ League group stages. Green is quick, good on the ball and reads the game very well and scored a screamer at the World Cup (http://bundesligafanatic.com/the-ballad-of-julian-green-teenage-world-cup-goalslinger/ ). He fit seamlessly alongside Bayern’s senior members. A great future is ahead for young Julian Green regardless of who he decides to play for.

There are others too who deserve consideration (alas there is limited time to write all my thoughts on this topic down); Luiz Gustavo (I really should have written about him), Maximilian Arnold (they're calling him the 'next Mesut Ozil' in Germany - http://bundesligafanatic.com/germany-world-cup-squad-2018-what-will-it-look-like/), Leonardo Bittencourt, Moritz Leitner, İlkay Gündoğan (I don't really need to write about him, we all want him already), Levin Öztunali, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Maximilian Wagener, Milan Badelj, Devante Parker, Fabian Hurzeler and

Forwards

My first Bundesliga forward, it's a German at all - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (http://www.fanatix.com/news/chelsea-face-struggle-to-sign-key-forward-transfer-target/245913/ ). Following his move from St Etienne, Aubameyang wasted no time and made an immediate impact on his debut, showing glimpses of what Dortmund could come to expect of his appearances. Klopp has said that Aubameyang has a "brutal" amount of quality in him and though he’s often viewed as arrogant (see this article about his extravagant spending http://www.bundesliga.com/en/liga/news/2013/0000264547.php ), he’s still a highly committed footballer, a threat in front of goal, and blisteringly fast. Although he was rarely deployed as a centre-forward at Dortmund – often he was stationed on the right side of a three-pronged attack – and 17 of his appearances were as a substitute, Aubameyang has me convinced that he is adaptable enough to comfortably slot into the lone striker position, or continue to be employed wide for Chelsea. With 13 goals in the Bundesliga last season would suggest that the versatile Aubameyang would be a wonderful addition to our squad.

The young Germans, hot shot strikers Timo Werner, Federico Palacios Martinez, Philipp Müller, Sebastian Stolze, Kevin Volland, Shawn Parker, Simon Seferings, Michael Strein, Patrick Weihrauch, Mitchell Weiser, Patrick Pflücke, Pierre-Michel Lasogga, Julian Brandt, Sinan Kurt, Oğuzhan Aydoğan, Tim Bodenröder, Donis Avdijaj, Gianluca Rizzo and Lucas Cueto (yeah I like the idea of looking at young Bundesliga stars).

Just 18 last season, Timo Werner has already broken into the Stuttgart 1st XI (admittedly that’s not a huge achievement - but it’s pretty big for an 18 year old in the Bundesliga, even if it is for Stuttgart). On his debut for the Germany U15 side, Werner scored a hat-trick. Later, he scored 24 times for Stuttgart’s U17 side, helping them reach the Bundesliga final, where they lost, rather surprisingly to Hertha Berlin. The following season, his progress continued to move forward in the A-Jugend Bundesliga, where he scored another 24 goals and added 6 assists to his tally, all within 23 games, with the form being something he carried over to the national set up too, where 18 goals and three assists followed in just 17 games. Werner is also powerful, 6ft tall, he has a thunderbolt of a shot when needed and his pace and lethal nature in front of goal from that left hand side. He’s a great young hit man up front and is certainly worth a major look at. We should move with some urgency because Bayern Munich are apparently also interested in him. There are also a few others we could nab from Stuttgart; Antonio Rüdiger [a hard-core centre back who at 21 has already played for the German senior team], Carlos Armando Gruezo Arboleda or Carlos Gruezo [a defensive midfielder who at 19 has broken into both the Stuttgart 1st team and the Ecuadorian national team], Toni Suddoth Terell [an attacking right back and Germany U16 star], Max Besuschkow [a gun goal-scoring attacking midfielder, the next Julian Brandt], Prince-Osei Owusu [gun German-Ghanaian striker, tall and fast], Arianit Ferati [16 year old German-Kosovar attacking midfielder player above his age with Germany U17 and Stuttgart U19], Adrian Grbic [Austrian attacking star, already mentioned], Benedict dos Santos [16 year old German-Angolan striker] and Alexander Groiss [young attacking mid]. There is some speculation we hold some interest in Carlos Gruezo, he’s not the lad I’d be after from Stuttgart, Antonio Rüdiger, Max Besuschkow, Timo Werner, Prince-Osei Owusu and Adrian Grbic.

Red Bull Leipzig’s young hotshot Federico Palacios Martinez. He made the unusual decision to leave Wolfsburg and join 3rd Division Red Bull Leipzig after scoring 29 goals and made 8 assists in 14 games for Wolfsburg in the A-Juniors Bundesliga. He’s now playing in the RB Leipzig first team and Germany U19. There are also a few others we could nab from RB Leipzig, U19 Germany midfielder Joshua Kimmich and impressive young attacking midfielder and Turkey U15 star Deniz Bulut.

Federico Palacios Martinez left Wolfsburg in January (as did Julian Brandt), but Wolfsburg maintained an impressive list of young players, one of them is young winger/striker Philipp Müller. Müller stepped up in the wake of Wolfsburg’s loss of Palacios Martinez and Brandt and along with young Polish striker Oskar Zawada they righted Wolfsburg’s ship and helped ensure Wolfsburg take out the A-Juniors Bundesliga Nord/Nordost, with Müller himself scoring 12 and providing 13 assists. Also in that Wolfsburg side (and like Müller in the Germany U19 squad) is centre forward Sebastian Stolze. There are also a few others we could nab from Wolfsburg, obviously star Swiss-Spanish left wingback bomber Ricardo Rodriguez, former Bayern Munich Brazilian defensive midfielder Luiz Gustavo, young attacking midfielder Maximilian Arnold, rising midfield stars Willi Evseev and Paul Seguin (whose father was one of East Germany’s finest players), Germany U15 striker David Nieland, Italian-German striker Leandro Putaro and German-Ghanaian right back Anton-Leander Donkor-Oppong.

Hoffenheim has two key players of interest to Chelsea, Brazilian playmaker Roberto Firmino (who has already been considered in the section on midfielders) and newly minted German team striker Kevin Volland. Though sent home from the final 23 for the German team for the 2014 World Cup, it is fair to assume that he will likely feature at Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup. He was great in a middling Hoffenheim team whose only lights were Firmino and himself. Real Madrid are apparently looking at him too, so if we’re after him we need to move. There are also a few others we could nab from Hoffenheim, rising central defender Niklas Süle, new Brazilian prospect Bruno Nazário, German-American former Germany U19 and Bayern Munich midfielder Fabian Hürzeler, the Hoffenheim U19 German-Turkish attacking trio Baris Atik, Bahadir Özkan and Erdal Öztürk, Germany U15 centre back Alfons Amade, Germany U17 striker Philipp Ochs and youth midfield star Johannes-Philipp Kölmel.

Though off the boil in the last six months, Mainz’s German-American youth star Shawn Parker was one of Germany’s hottest young strikers until recently. Parker has been representing Germany and scoring for the Germans since the U15 national team, though his form dipped at a bad point, and he wasn’t even considered for the trip to Brazil. With a strong frame and powerful running, Parker has an explosive turn of pace to work in the channels and is eager to track-back and press opponents into mistakes. There are also a few others we could nab from Mainz, the already mentioned rising defensive midfield star Johannes Geis, Shawn’s younger brother Devante Parker, Germany U18 attacking midfielder Patrick Pflücke, Germany U17 striker Leon Kern and Germany U15 midfielder Yoel Yilma.

Bayern’s defensive and midfield stars (whom we stand some chance of enticing to Stamford Bridge, so no Thiago or Ribery) have already been pretty extensively considered, as has Mario Mandžukić. Bayern has a number of youth forwards worth a punt too though, German strikers Michael Eberwein, Simon Seferings, Michael Strein, Mitchell Weiser, Patrick Weihrauch and Vladimir Rankovic, and Austrian wingers Oliver Markoutz and Marco Friedl. The other option would be bringing the Andean Bomber (well in German ‘Anden Bomber’) Claudio Pizarro back, he was after-all a Mourinho signing, but he unfortunately never got much of a run under Mou, as he left soon after Pizarro’s arrival. He’s old, but a gun striker and could be a good 4th (even 5th) striker and it would be great to bring across a cult hero like Claudio Pizarro, and give him a proper run for the blues.

Pierre-Michel Lasogga was one of the few decent players for Hamburg (he was on loan from Hertha Berlin) this season (Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Milan Badelj and Lasse Sobiech being the others), he’s currently attracting interest from Everton and Newcastle, which realistically might be a bit below his level, he’s a Germany U21 striker and though not fantastic last season, he was in a very poor Hamburg team, he didn’t have much help outside of Çalhanoğlu and Badelj, imagine what he could do with the likes of Oscar, Hazard and Willian behind him. There are also a few others we could nab from Hertha, German-Cameroonian midfielder Junior Ebot-Etchi, Germany U16 centre back Jordan Torunarigha, Russia U17 striker Maximilian Pronichev, Germany U16 striker Michael Kyeremeh, Germany U15 midfield Arne Maier and Germany U15 striker Nikos Zografakis.

Julian Brandt was a Chelsea target back whilst he was at Wolfsburg, his move to Bayer Leverkusen was instead of a move to Stamford Bridge. He’s clearly a serious talent, the next off the production line of energetic and skilful German wingers/attacking mids/strikers after Thomas Müller, Marco Reus, Julian Draxler, Leon Goretzka, Max Meyer, Mario Götze and our own Andre Schurrle. He’s a player we’d find a valuable addition to our squad. There are also a few others we could nab from Leverkusen, German national team back up centre back Philipp Wollscheid, Lars Bender (enough said), rising Germany U19 midfield star Levin Öztunali, Korean wing wizard Heung-Min Son and Germany U19 defensive midfielder Jonas Meffert.

Borussia Mochengladbach’s young left wing star Sinan Kurt had a whale of a season for Gladbach’s U19 squad, scoring 16 goals and bagging a trio of assists as well. This was rewarded with a call up for Germany U18 in late 2013, he has now scored four times for the national team as well. There are also a few others we could nab from Gladbach, particularly German national right winger Patrick Hermann, who is big, fast and chips in with assists, young Bosnian-Herzegovinian-Luxembourger attacking midfielder, Mirza Mustafić the so called ‘new’ Miralem Pjanic, Gianluca Rizzo and Amin Younes.

Of all the German clubs with plenty of attacking talent to poach (excluding Bayern Munich) the best choice to target is Schalke. Julian Draxler. Max Meyer. Leon Goretzka. Donis Avdijaj. Leroy Sané. Esad Morina. Oguzhan Aydogan. Maurice Multhaup. Tim Bodenröder. This is a serious set of (young) attacking players to rival few other clubs round (off the top of my head Bayern Munich, Chelsea, PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid and possibly Man City have comparable sets of young attackers, all teams much bigger than Schalke). We’ve already considered Draxler, Goretzka and Meyer, so looking at the others, Avdijaj is a goal-scoring machine with tons last season and a reasonable haul this season, Leroy Sané was close behind this season for Schalke U19, replacing Avdijaj at Schalke U17 was Esad Morina, who also scored a load, while Oguzhan Aydogan, Maurice Multhaup and Tim Bodenröder all made important contributions. Outside of these stars, there are also a few others we could nab from Schalke, defenders Sead Kolašinac, Joel Matip, Benedikt Höwedes, Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Patryk Dragon and midfielder Pascal Itter, Thilo Kehrer, Christian Clemens and Kevin-Prince Boateng.

This also ignores the aforementioned senior stars plying their trade in Germany, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and German stars overseas (Mario Gomez), and don’t forget the Austrians and their Bundesliga either; Florian Grillitsch, Valentino Lazaro, Sascha Horvath, Alessandro Schöpf, Adrian Grbic, Raphael Holzhauser (all plying their trade in Germany, I’d be happy to have any of them in our squad actually – without going into it too much Grillitsch, Lazaro, Horvath, Schöpf, Grbic and Holzhauser are awesome; in particular Grillitsch he’s even better than Julian Brandt), Marcel Sabitzer and Andreas Weimann (not to forget RBS's Norwegian stars Håvard Nielsen and Valon Berisha).

Obviously I've named hundreds of players here (possibly I haven't counted) and we really only need a few.

If I was to pick one of each I'd go with Jonathan Tah in Defence, Leon Goretzka in midfield and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang up front (and a keeper, ah, Odisseas Vlachodimos from Stuttgart) with a back up selection of Jerome Boateng, Julian Draxler and Julian Brandt.

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