Alphonso Davies is Bayern Munich's youngest scorer in 20 years
Five games into his career at Bayern Munich, former Vancouver Whitecaps winger Alphonso Davies has his first Bundesliga goal.
The 18-year-old Canadian, who moved to Bayern from MLS in January, has yet to start for the German champs. But when he knocked home the rebound of a Robert Lewandowski shot to complete a 6-0 demolition of Mainz on Sunday, Davies became the club’s youngest league scorer since Paraguayan Roque Santa Cruz in Augusts of 1999.
It probably wasn’t a coincidence that Davies saw his longest stretch of playing time yet under manager Niko Kovac in Sunday’s match. Davies’ first four appearances for the club, all in the domestic league and all off the bench, totaled just 25 minutes.
But on Sunday, Kovac summoned Davies with more than a half-hour remaining. It didn’t take the dynamic youngster long to reward his boss, finding the back of the net just 10 minutes after entering the field:
ALPHONSO DAVIES!!!
The 18 year-old Canadian scores his first goal for Bayern and becomes the youngest scorer for Bayern since Roque Santa Cruz in 1999 💪🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/54AC6Jg5Sr— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) March 17, 2019
If you’re counting, that means it took Davies just 35 minutes to score first goal for for the club. The Ghana-born, Edmonton-raised attacker had eight goals and 11 assists in 31 appearances for Vancouver last season, when he was 17.
Davies’ contract was sold to Bayern last summer for a then-MLS record fee that could top $20 million depending on performance incentives. Under FIFA rules, he could not officially join the club until he turned 18 late last year.
Doug McIntyre covers soccer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
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