Julian Green, Bayern Munich’s young Florida-born striker, has been tipped to break into Pep Guardiola’s first-team during the second half of theBundesliga giant’s season, which begins next weekend at Borussia Moenchengladbach. The 18-year-old, who has been linked with a temporary switch to Hamburg, has now been told that he will not beloaned out during the second half of the season.
Just how he figures into Guardiola’s plans remains to be seen. Green has so far made just one first-team appearance for Bayern — afive-minute cameo against Spartak Moscow in the UEFA Champions League — although he featured prominently and scored a pair of goals in friendlies against Al-Merrikh and Al Kuwait duringBayern’s winter training camp in Qatar.
Matthias Sammer, the German treble winner’s sporting director, thinks this is just the beginning for the improvingGerman-American. “Julian has made a very notable development,” Sammer tells German paper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. “He can play in every position in attack.” The formerGermany international added that despite the array of top international stars at the Allianz Arena, Green is capable of holding his own: “He has integrated well,” Sammer said.
Itremains unclear at this point whether Green will decide to play internationally for Germany or the USA. He is currently part of Germany’s U19 team, but he has also played for the USA’s U18side. Senior national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann faces a fight to convince the youngster to play for the country of his birth.