Bayern Munich youngsters Wintzheimer and Mai could join Hamburg this summer

Losing the two could prove to be a missed opportunity for Bayern Munich...

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 31: Manuel Wintzheimer of Bayern Munich controls the ball prior the UEFA Champions League group B match between Celtic FC and Bayern Muenchen at Celtic Park on October 31, 2017 in Glasgow, United Kingdom.

 Photo by TF-Images/TF-Images via Getty Images

Bayern Munich youth stars Manuel Wintzheimer and Lars Lukas Mai could be leaving the club to join Hamburg, per a report by SportBild. Photos taken just a few days ago show the pair of players being shown around Hamburg’s training grounds by the club’s squad planner, Johannes Spors. Talks are reportedly ongoing between the two clubs and a decision is supposed to be made within the next two weeks. Both players are out of contract by the end of this summer, so Hamburg could acquire them on a free transfer. Wolfsburg are also said to be in the race to try and sign the two youngsters.

This news comes just under a month after reports suggested Bayern were closing in on Hamburg’s starlet, Jann-Fiete Arp, as his contract is set to expire in 2019. Additionally, Niklas Dorsch has just recently rejected a contract extension with Bayern; the 20-year old captain of Bayern Munich II is justifiably fearful that he’d hardly see any minutes for Bayern’s first team with such a star-studded midfield.

Missed opportunities for Bayern?

With the amount of emphasis Bayern have placed on developing their youth academies over the past two years, letting two of their top young talents could prove to be a missed opportunity. The club spent approximately €70m in the two-year construction process of the new FC Bayern Campus and club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge stated that the expectation for the new youth facilities is to “produce a player every year for the first team” from the youth academy. David Alaba still ranks as the most recent player to work his way through Bayern’s youth academies all the way to the senior squad among a list including players like Thomas Muller, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos, Mats Hummels, and Philipp Lahm. The frequency at which youth players are inandated with the senior squad needs to increase.

Losing both Wintzheimer and Mai to Hamburg could prove to be costly in the long run for Bayern, as both have showed plenty of promise in the youth teams. From a total of 34 competitive matches between the U19 and U23 squads, Wintzheimer has netted a total of 31 goals this season while Mai has been a consistently strong performer in the center of Bayern’s U19 back line. Time will tell how