In just over a month, FC Bayern winger Jamal Musiala will reach the grand old age of 20 and he is already one of the hottest properties in world football.
The Bundesliga star has made 72 senior appearances for Die Bayern, scoring 20 goals and he has been capped by Germany 20 times already. Musiala is a superstar and he is destined to become one of the very best among a group of young guns wowing fans across Europe, including Barcelona’s Gavi and Pedri and Manchester City’s Phil Foden.
In 2022, the Germany fans association DFB Fan Club voted Musiala their Germany Player of the Year as he received 66-per cent of the votes ahead of Chelsea’s Kai Havertz, who had eight-per cent, and Joshua Kimmich who was third with six percent.
Such a resounding acclamation of Musiala’s talent shows what a special player he is and the Bayern man is sure to provide some pretty special Bundesliga 2023 highlights in the second half of the campaign.
With nine goals already in this campaign, he is in fourth position in the race for the Golden Boot, just three goals behind RB Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku, and Musiala has the fourth most assists in the league with six.
In Bayern’s recent clash with Leipzig he had one of his rare off days, picking up a yellow card in the first half and being substituted in the second as Die Bayern played out a 1-1 draw. And that merely shows that Musiala is human, but he delivers 90-per cent of the time and, like all young players, his consistency will improve as he ages.
Musiala is just going to get better and better.
And he’s a crowd pleaser with his brilliant dribbling skills and electric turn of pace, saying: “I just try to have fun on the pitch and to be happy as free as possible. I go into dribbles and do whatever I can to help the team win.”
Growing up, the young player watched videos of his heroes Lionel Messi and Neymar: “It always amazed me how they went into dribbles and it was always entertaining to watch them play,” said Musiala.
Well, pretty soon Musiala will come face-to-face with his idols when FC Bayern meet Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League Round of 16, not to mention World Cup Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappe.
It’s a tough draw for the Germans but Messi and co. will have as much respect for Musiala as he has for them.
In the domestic league, Bayern are five points clear of the chasing pack and the current Bundesliga 2023 betting odds are backing the Bavarians to make it a record 11th title on the run and that, incredibly, could be Musiala’s fourth title winner medal by the age of 20.
Head coach Julian Nagelsmann is blessed with attacking talent in his team, with Musiala and Sadio Mane providing the ammunition for Eric Maxim Choupo-Mouting, while Serge Gnabry is also in the form of his life. This is an environment in which Musiala can thrive but he has plenty of suitors among Europe’s other top clubs.
Our SBOTOP team picked Musiala out as one of the Bundesliga’s brightest stars at the World Cup in Qatar despite Germany’s disappointing campaign. He became the second youngest player to score for Germany when he notched against North Macedonia in qualification and, in Qatar, he became the first teenager to represent Germany at a finals tournament since 1958 when he started the group match against Japan.
And on the 1st of December, Musiala recorded 13 dribbles in Germany’s 4-2 win over Costa Rica, a figure only bettered by Nigeria midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha’s record of 15 set in 1994.
He is, very nearly, the perfect attacking player, able to operate on either wing just behind the main striker or in a flexible role across the pitch. He’s one of few players, alongside the likes of Gavi and Foden, who can switch so quickly and he is a nightmare to defend against.
Musiala could well become a Bayern legend, though life could have been very different for the young man born to a Nigerian father and a German mother but raised in England from the age of seven.
He represented both England and Germany at youth level and pledged his allegiance to Germany from 2021 and he is now established as one of the first names on the national side’s team sheet.
But Musiala was in the Chelsea Academy between 2011 and 2019 before he moved to Munich at the age of 16. What the Blues would give to turn the clock back on that moment.
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