Jupp Heynckes calls up Meritan Shabani to the first team

There’s a new face on Bayern Munich’s bench today in Leipzig: a young man by the name of Meritan Shabani, aged 19 (profile at Transfermarkt.de). Shabani is a central attacking midfielder, originally from Kosovo, who has played on Bayern’s U19 A-Juniors in the Bundesliga South/Southwest.

Shabani has racked up an impressive scoring record in 13 games with the juniors: he has scored 6 goals and made 5 assists, and on top of that scored one goal in the UEFA—fittingly, against in a 3-1 victory of Paris Saint-Germain’s U19 team.

The midfielder has played almost exclusively this season as a central attacking midfielder for the Juniors this season (and once as a false 9 against Anderlecht last September), but he has played outside on the right wing in the past. Although there is little chance he starts against RB Leipzig, he could potentially allow James Rodriguez to move outside to the left, if Juan Bernat were to make way on the left wing.

Shabani joined Bayern’s youth academy in 2006. He has played for the Juniors since 2015 and been a substitute for Bayern II twice.