This is one of those “work hard and overcome obstacles” stories.
Bayern Munich’s Aleksandar Pavlović seemed set to have a rather low key career as he approached adulthood. He was little more than a rotation option for multiple age groups, after all. But a combination of hard work, a growth spurt and good fortune saw him shoot up the ranks. One thing happened after another and all of a sudden, he had been promoted to the first team and was starting in the Champions League semifinals against Real Madrid.
Markus Weinzierl, Bayern Campus’ sporting director, spoke of Pavlović, his impressive improvement and the example he can provide to other youth players:
“He’s the last one to go from the Campus to the first team. Every boy in the Campus can take him as a role model and example of how it’s done. At 16 or 17, it wasn’t foreseeable that he would have such a career,” the former Augsburg head coach admitted, via @iMiaSanMia. “But he worked hard and overcame all adversities. Many more will have the chance to do the same in the coming months. He was in the right place at the right time; that’s always the right moment in talent development. And then you need the necessary luck. Only those who keep working hard and keep pushing get lucky.”
Of course, luck did play a huge part in the opportunity given. There were strong rumors that a loan move was planned in the summer of 2023 for the Germany international, only for an injury to rule out any move away. This forced him to stay at the club, where other players got injured and Pavlović was able to seize his chance.
As good as it is that Pavlović fought through all that adversity, perhaps Bayern can learn from this and realize that testing youth talents in the first team, without years and years of loans, is not a strategy without merits.
