Nathaniel Brown was on Bayern’s radar long before his €50m move

New FC Bayern signing Nathaniel Brown reportedly first caught the German champions' attention when he was just a kid.

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

Bayern Munich recently completed the signing of Nathaniel Brown from Eintracht Frankfurt for a reported €50 million fee.

However, according to Christian Lichtenauer, Brown's long-time mentor, Bayern already showed interest in the defender long before he made his name in professional football.

After joining SSV Jahn Regensburg from his local club TSV Kümmersbruck at the age of nine, Brown began attracting interest from bigger clubs, including Bayern Munich, according to Lichtenauer.

“At Jahn, he quickly impressed and became one of the best players in the team, which led to various clubs approaching us,” Lichtenauer said in an interview with AZ, naming Ingolstadt, 1. FC Nürnberg and Bayern Munich among the clubs interested in Brown at the time.

The greater distance to Munich was an important factor in Brown and his family’s decision to choose Nürnberg instead.

“At that point, the idea of them signing the boy was not yet that strong, because the distance would have been very far for us. His only option would have been to move into a boarding school. That was another reason why we ultimately decided on Nürnberg," Lichtenauer said.