The Scouting Report: Austria and Bayern’s David Alaba

Name: David Alaba

Club: Bayern Munich

Nationality: Austrian

Position: Left back/midfielder

 

Who is he?

David Alaba should be relatively well known to most people by now due to his exploits at club level. The 20-year-old firmly established himself as Bayern Munich’s first choice left-back last season as the Bavarians marched to the Champions League final – although in hindsight he was perhaps a little fortunate to be suspended for that harrowing defeat to Chelsea on home soil.

Although he started out at Rapid Vienna’s academy in his home country, in 2008 he moved just across the border to Germany to join Bayern’s youth ranks aged 16.

 

Achievements

The son of a Nigerian father and Filipino mother, the 2011 and 2012 Austrian Player of the Year became the youngest player to ever line out for Austria in October 2009 aged just 17 – an extraordinary achievement bearing in mind that he had never played for Bayern Munich’s senior team at that point. But he would not have to wait long for his club debut, making his first appearance in February 2010 – also setting a new record as the youngest ever Bayern player in a competitive fixture.

By the end of this season he is likely to be the proud owner of a Bundesliga winner’s medal as Bayern run away with the league.

 

Attributes

A fantastic athlete, Alaba possesses electric pace and tenacity. Like many modern full-backs he is adept on the overlap, making his presence felt in the final third. His relationship with Bayern team-mate Franck Ribery on the left flank is one of the key partnerships in the team. But despite his attacking qualities, Alaba is also a diligent defender – a key component of Bayern’s excellent defensive record this season.

But what will concern Ireland fans is the fact that Alaba is incredibly versatile which not only allows him to overlap on the outside, but also to cut inside to devastating effect. He can play defensive midfield, right-back and left-wing with great aplomb; although left-back in a back four is his preferred position. However Austria decided to utilize him in midfield during the World Cup qualifying campaign and that is where he is likely to start against Ireland despite his obvious superiority at left-back.

 

Potential

Already a world class left-back, he will only get better. It would be nice to see a player of his calibre playing in the World Cup at some point in his career – but fingers crossed he does not achieve that dream until Austria are no longer grouped with the Boys in Green.

 

Plays a bit like…When he first broke through he was compared to Bayern’s Champions League-winning left-back Bixente Lizarazu. However the French World Cup winner was nowhere near as versatile as his Austrian counterpart. 

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