Currently, players born in 2007 are in their second year in the U19s and therefore still play at the youth level.
Among Bundesliga clubs, only one player born that year is already getting consistent minutes: Karim Coulibaly at Werder Bremen.
But for VfB Stuttgart, one of the most promising midfielders in the country at the moment, has already made 25 appearances for the B-team in the 3. Liga, Mirza Ćatović.
Ćatović was born in Serbia but came to Germany at a young age, joining Stuttgarts academy at 15.
From then on, he rose through the ranks quickly, playing for the U17s and U19s.
When the B-team of VfB Stuttgart entered the relegation battle in the third division, the club decided against buying external talent to add quality to the squad and instead put then-17-year-old Ćatović into the pros after just a couple of games for the U19s.
The step worked wonders for the player and the team.
Despite an injury, Ćatović quickly established himself as the starting holding midfielder and stabilised the team well enough that, at the end of the season, they managed to stay up and avoid relegation.
This season, Mirza Catovic has been a consistent starter for the Stuttgart B-team again and also trains with the Bundesliga team when possible.
With great performances, Thomas Krücken, former head of academy for Stuttgart and now head of academy at Manchester City, wants to bring the young Serbian midfielder to England as a possible successor for Rodri.
In this Mirza Ćatović scout report, we will take a look at what makes Mirza Ćatović so special, how he managed to stabilise a team of professionals at the age of 17, and why Manchester City are so keen on bringing him in at a young age.
Mirza Ćatović Passing Game
Mirza Ćatović style of play is a rather traditional holding midfielder; he plays as the defensive part of a double pivot or as the lone defensive midfielder for the majority of the time.
The young Serbian midfielder is incredibly good at ball security; he scans and orients himself early and rarely loses the ball in dangerous situations.
At 1.90m in height and with a very broad build, Ćatović is a very physical midfielder.
In combination with his ability to scan early, his ability to shield the ball is one of his biggest strengths.
It even worked for him at just 17 years of age against experienced players at the professional level.
Here we can see Stuttgart overload their right wing and try to play forward through their full-back, but SSV Ulm has already matched the numbers on that side and even committed an additional player outside.
Mirza Ćatović quickly realises that his team needs to abort that attack and play through the back to build up again, and moves towards the ball, already scanning the situation in front of him over his shoulder.
In
