Last week, Total Football Analysis published an article on Chema Andrés at VfB Stuttgart, who has generated plenty of well-deserved hype around himself in the 2025/2026 season so far.
Andrés isn’t the only young holding midfielder in the Bundesliga with a bit of buzz around himself at the moment.
Another is 21-year-old Bayern Munich academy product Aleksandar Pavlović (188cm/6’2”, 75kg/165lbs), who’s currently valued as high as €65m by Transfermarkt.
It’s worth reading this Aleksandar Pavlović scout report alongside the recently published Chema Andrés analysis, as, while they are two of the most exciting up-and-coming holding midfielders in the world, their profiles are in stark contrast to each other.
We described Real Madrid graduate Chema Andrés as “a traditional, pure holding midfielder, not a modern single pivot type.”
Aleksandar Pavlović is almost the inverse in terms of profile, however.
This scout report examines Aleksandar Pavlović’s style of play and role in Vincent Kompany‘s tactics at FC Bayern 2025/2026.
Aleksandar Pavlović Stats
As we did with Chema Andrés, we’ve generated percentile ranks for Aleksandar Pavlović across several custom-built metrics created from Wyscout’s raw metrics to help analyse holding midfielders who have played at least 400 minutes in one of Europe’s top five leagues so far this season.
The data is visualised in a bar chart, shown in Figure 1, which outlines why Pavlović profiles as more of a modern single pivot rather than a traditional pure holding midfielder.
Aleksandar Pavlović Percentile Ranks 2025/2026
Aleksandar Pavlović’s major strengths are found in key possession metrics, particularly those related to passing.
Pavlović has an elite percentile rank in possession metrics related to press resistance, ball retention, and ball progression.
His high percentile ranks in ‘attacking efficiency score’ and ‘shot discipline index’ also point to a player who’s responsible with the ball and doesn’t force too many risky attacking actions.
Taking this in combination with his strong progression metrics, Aleksandar Pavlović can be seen as a safe ball progressor from deep in midfield who’ll drive the team forward consistently without leaving the team open to turnovers in possession, making him an ideal option for a team like Bayern Munich.
A low ‘dribble escape score’ is telling in combination with a high ‘press resistance score’ and ‘ball retention index’.
Pavlović is solid under pressure, but not necessarily due to his ability to dribble out of tight areas.
He relies much more on technique, body-orientation, intelligent movement, and the creation of smart passing angles to retain possession and escape pressure.
Pavlović defends comfortably with the ball and dictates tempo from deep, an ideal pivot for a possession-dominant positional play system with box-to-box potential if played alongside a pure holding midfielder, such as Chema Andrés, in a different system.
Along with ball-carrying, there are clear limitations in Pavlović’s defensive game.
He doesn’t naturally screen the backline, occupy passing lanes, or kill transitions to the extent that elite pure holding midfielders do, which is a key difference between Aleksandar Pavlović and the likes of Chema Andrés.
As such, he shouldn’t be utilised as the sole holding midfielder in a more transitional side or for a team playing without the ball for long periods, and there is a very real risk in place if he’s misprofiled and misused.
It’s important to note that the above numbers should be seen through the unique lens of an FC Bayern midfielder.
Vincent Kompany’s side dominates the vast majority of their games.
They’ve averaged a whopping 66.6% possession in the Bundesliga so far this term, making them one of the most possession-dominant teams in Europe.
As a result, there will naturally be some inflation in Pavlović’s possession metrics and deflation in his out-of-possession numbers owing to his club context.
Therefore, we shouldn’t necessarily read too much into Figure 1 and take from it that Pavlović is Europe’s most press-resistant midfielder and the best ball progressor, though he is up there.
The numbers more so tell us that these are the skills and qualities that have mostly been required of Pavlović in his role at FC Bayern, and he’s fulfilled that role to a high standard, as evidenced by Bayern’s undefeated domestic campaign so far, with their only defeat to date in 2025/2026 coming against Arsenal in the Champions League.
As we move on from the data, the rest of this scout report focuses on vital aspects of Aleksandar Pavlović’s role in Vincent Kompany’s tactics: his smart movement, technique, vision, and ability to handle pressure.
Aleksandar Pavlović Movement, Technique & Vision
With Bayern dominating possession in most games, Aleksandar Pavlović will often be required to drop deep and evade his marker(s) to find space versus a low block and then rely on his passing and vision to get the ball to his side’s final third creators in whatever space they can find to try and unpick the lock the opponent has set.
The video above, from Bayern’s 3-1 November win over St. Pauli, illustrates this.
Pavlović initially drops off towards what would be a more natural left centre-back position alongside his team’s actual centre-halves to escape his marker and become a viable passing option as the Bayern centre-backs look for a route forward.
As Pavlović receives, the opponents’ right central midfielder is drawn slightly forward, creating a bit of space for Bayern’s No. 22 Raphaël Guerreiro to drop into.
Pavlović carries the ball wide, creating a passing angle past the pressing St. Pauli midfielder and into Raphaël Guerreiro, which provides Bayern with a route into the final third.
In the next example, just a few minutes later in the same game, take note of the very beginning of the video, where Aleksandar Pavlović intelligently escapes the St. Pauli forward’s cover shadow to become a passing option.
He scans before receiving to create a mental picture of what’s ahead and to begin planning his next moves.
On receiving the ball, Pavlović carries forward for a few steps while continuously scanning before launching the ball towards Harry Kane, which sets No. 27 Konrad Laimer up to win the second ball inside the final third, which could’ve been a great opportunity for the Bavarian side.
In our third and final video clip, Aleksandar Pavlović’s vision and technique to spot and pick out a perfect progressive pass to the feet of Raphaël Guerreiro in zone 14 takes centre-stage.
Again, the midfielder’s movement and scanning before receiving are clear, along with intelligent body language on the ball, which helps create the passing angle to Raphaël Guerreiro.
The recurring skills and techniques outlined in this section play a vital role in making Aleksandar Pavlović such an effective pivot in this Bayern side.
Aleksandar Pavlović Under Pressure
With Aleksandar Pavlović playing such a central role in Bayern’s ball progression, he will inevitably be put under immense pressure in certain games as teams look to stifle Bayern as they build their attacks.
Unfortunately for those teams, Aleksandar Pavlović has proven extremely skilled at protecting the ball and getting out of pressure, making this another key skill in his game.
We see Aleksandar Pavlović receiving the ball deep from Bayern’s left centre-back in Figure 2.
As he receives, Pavlović scans over his left shoulder, making himself aware of the incoming pressure from the Köln midfielder.
Pavlović’s spatial awareness and body orientation are fantastic in this example.
He opens his body up beautifully towards the overlapping left-back on the outside, protecting the ball from the pressing midfielder.
Pavlović’s body orientation here nicely sets up the through pass to the full-back, which helps Bayern to beat the opposing press and continue towards the attacking half of the pitch.
Here, in the Champions League versus Club Brugge, Aleksandar Pavlović receives in the middle of the park, immediately attracting attention from a Brugge midfielder who presses him high from behind.
Aware of the pressure, Pavlović quickly relays possession to another teammate.
Just with this simple one-touch action, aided by Pavlović’s spatial awareness, the midfielder has helped create space for Harry Kane to drop into, which enables Bayern to find their star striker with a lofted pass as play moves on into Figure 5, below.
From here, Bayern can enter the opposition half and progress towards goal, highlighting the value of what may, at first, seem like a fairly unassuming bit of involvement from Pavlović.
Conclusion
Good holding midfielders in possession-based systems often won’t make the headlines, but their actions both on and off the ball can create space and opportunity for those around them.
That’s certainly the case with Aleksandar Pavlović, as outlined throughout this scout report.
The young German international seems sure to be a key figure in his club and national team for the long term, as his profile as a player should remain highly in demand for both.
Still, he would also be a perfect fit for a typical Pep Guardiola team or a coach of his ilk.
