Yusuf Kabadayi at Bayern Munich: Courted U17 veteran

Yusuf Kabadayi (19) is considered one of Bayern’s most promising talents. The man from Munich with Turkish roots is extremely courted – by clubs and associations.

Yusuf Kabadayi is only 19 years old, but he may have already made the most amazing change of his career: from the U14s directly to the U17s of FC Bayern Munich, for whom he then played for three seasons. This is a remarkable step, especially in these young years, when physical development is still progressing rapidly. A step that shows what he was expected to do early on in Munich.

Alongside Paul Wanner, Arijon Ibrahimovic and Tarek Buchmann, Kabadayi is now considered one of Bayern’s most promising talents. “Yusi is a great striker, he’s a crook,” said reserve coach Holger Seitz. Julian Nagelsmann took him to the professional training camp in Qatar in January. He was allowed to play for half an hour in the only test match against RB Salzburg (4:4).

Kabadayi was born in Munich and joined Bayern at the age of eight. He is one for whom the wonderful football word “homegrown” was invented. “I’ve been here since the U8s and I can’t imagine playing for another club,” said Kabadayi as part of his contract extension until 2024.

Yusuf Kabadayi: Fast, good at dribbling, prone to injury

The left winger is fast, good at dribbling and has plenty of traction towards the goal. So far, he has been slowed down more by injuries than by opponents. Last season he had to sit out for weeks because of an acromion fracture, this time first because of problems in the ankle and then in the thigh.

In the past five years he has only played 68 competitive games for the U17s, U19s and reserves, of course also due to the Corona breaks. On average, he scored a point in almost every second game. Kabadayi has been fit again since the winter break. After winter experiences with the professional team, he recently scored two important goals for the reserves in the regional league.

Since the change of coach from Martin Demichelis to Holger Seitz, the team is undefeated, but leaders SpVgg Unterhaching are still ahead of 15 points. The climb shouldn’t work anymore.

Yusuf Kabadayi: Interest from clubs – and from Turkey

Because the regional league is not the ideal development environment for players of Kabadayi’s quality, according to information from SPOX and GOAL present a loan in the summer. Gabriel Vidovic (Vitesse Arnhem) and Malik Tillman (Rangers FC) serve as role models and are currently developing brilliantly on loan. Concrete talks about the new season have not yet taken place. FC Bayern has an option to extend the contract, which runs until 2024, by a year.

Already in winter there was interest in Kabadayi: How SPOX and GOAL learned that Serie A club US Lecce and Galatasaray tried in vain to sign. Lecce insisted on a purchase option in a loan deal, which FC Bayern did not want to grant. Galatasaray was interested in a permanent deal, which was not an option for Kabadayi.

Kabadayi’s family is from Isparta, about a two-hour drive north of Antalya. He has already played in his parents’ country – for the Turkish U15 and U16 national team, when the DFB was not yet interested in being called up. Kabadayi has been playing for his country of birth Germany since the U18s, but he hasn’t made a final decision yet.

The Turkish association is currently trying to change nations again, even tempting with the prospect of a nomination for the senior national team. At least for the time being, Kabadayi will continue to play for Germany U19s, for whom he scored in a 3-2 defeat by Italy last week.