The excellent Saurabh Ananth from fouraddedon.com takes a look at the new generation of youngster about to take on the Bundesliga big boys

A new, talented generation of German footballers is coming through the ranks from Hamburg to Munich and everywhere in between. Demand for homegrown talent within Germany is at an all time high with clubs in Germany much more willing to give young talents from lower leagues a chance than in most other countries.

Many academies have played a big part in this revolution. 1860 Munich, for example, have already made their mark on German football and many current Bundesliga players have come through the ranks there. And the German national team prospers from some of the most talented young players in the world. It was one of the youngest squads in the 2010 World Cup and pundits were rightfully questioning Germany’s chances. They were proven so wrong however and there’s no doubt that the 2014 World Cup in Brazil will feature even more young Germans.

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Another new writer makes his debut for gibfootballshow – Saurabh Ananth or better known as looks at the teams that just didn’t cut it this season in the Bundesliga.

2010/11 brought out one of the best Bundesliga seasons ever, with a lot of stories throughout the season. Dortmund winning the league while stamping their brand of football on the league was one, Hannover and Mainz’ brave and eventually successful battle for European football was another big one. We could go down to the lower end of the table with Eintracht Frankfurt’s relegation after being 7th in December or Gladbach’s miracle comeback after being firm favourites for relegation. While all those were very interesting, the underachievement of perennial contenders Werder Bremen, Stuttgart and Schalke were surprising and it’s what this will focus on. And as they prepared for their seasons in the summer of 2010 none of these teams thought they would be where they were.

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