Stefan Reinartz (74 -> 80)

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Name: Stefan Reinartz
Date of Birth: Jan. 1 1989 (Age: 20)
Current Club: Bayer Leverkusen
Former Clubs: 1. FC Nürnberg (loan)
Position: Central Back / Defensive Midfield
Height: 1.90 m
Nationality: German
On the DB: 80

Mentioned before, but no thread specifically dedicated to him yet.



Stefan Reinartz was a regular player for Bayer Leverkusen's youth teams, and one of the early highlights in his career was lifting the Youth Championship title with Bayer Leverkusen in 2007.
He was offered his first professional contract for the 2008/2009 season.



However, he didn't get one single appearance during the first half of the season, and was then loaned out to 1. FC Nürnberg together with Marcel Risse until 2010 during the winter transfer window.
He hasn't featured in the first 2 games, but since then, he has played in every match, with 11 starts and 1 sub, and has impressed in all of them bar one where Nürnberg conceded 6 goals. Besides that, Nürnberg kept 8 clean sheets with him in the team, and won 8 games, drew 1 and only lost 2. They have a realistic chance of getting promoted and are the 2nd best team since the winter break.



He is also a regular for the German youth teams, and won the U-19 Euros 2008. He is now playing for the U-20 NT.


He is on the DB at a rating of 74 and atm, he is keeping an 83 and a 81 out of the team and is playing alongside with an 88, so I'm predicting a rise into the low 80's, somewhere between 80-82. If Nürnberg gain promotion, he can easily reach 85+ next season, if he keeps on improving and maybe gets a cap for the German NT, he might even hit 90 somewhen.

Stats: 08/09 season for 1, FC Nürnberg

Games (Subs in / out): 16 (1 / 0)
Minutes: 1367
Goals (penalties): 0 (0)
Assists: 3
Yellow / Red cards: 1 / 0

09/10 season for Bayer Leverkusen (Nov 16 09)

Games (Subs in / out): 7 (4 / 1)
Minutes: 289
Goals (penalties): 1 (0)
Assists: 1
Yellow / Red cards: 3 / 0

Update: (Nov 5 09) rose to 80. Is now playing for the U-21 NT.

Update: (Jun 9 2010) Rose to 86

Michael Schick (NoDB -> 75 -> 77)

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Name: Michael Schick
Date of Birth: Feb. 29 1988 (Age: 21)
Current Club: FC Augsburg
Former Club(s): TSV 1860 München
Position: Left Back / Left Midfield
Height: 1.76 m
Nationality: German



Michael Schick has made his professional debut today (on his 21st birthday, kinda) in 1860's impressive 5-1 win over St. Pauli in the 2nd Bundesliga. During the first 30 minutes, he already was in the center of attention twice, with clearing a ball on the line after 6 minutes, and a great sliding tackle against his opponent near the penalty spot in the 30th minute, who otherwise would have been through. 6 minutes later, a cross from him nearly earned him an assist, but the ball was kicked over the goal by the striker. After the break, he almost scored his first goal, but the keeper managed to stop his shot with his weaker right foot. His corner kick in the 76th minute was headed further by Schaffler to Hoffmann, who finished for the 5-1 final result.
He already played regularly for the 'Lowen' reserves in Germany's 4th league, where he was the main man for standards, and even scored 2 goals through penalties (missed 1 though).



Overall, I thought he made quite a solid, occasionally impressive debut, and IMO he might be used more regularly now since quite a few of 1860 Munich's regulars are injured.
With the German changes only being a couple of days away, he might even get added sooner than the odd 450 minutes, probably at a rating in the low 70's.


Update: (Mar 7 2009) added to the DB as LB/LM with a rating of 75.

Stats: 08/09 season for 1860 München

Games (Subs in / out): 9 (0 / 1)
Minutes: 802
Goals (penalties): 1 (0)
Assists: 2
Yellow / Red cards: 3 / 0

Update: (Nov 3 2009) rose to 77

Roman Neustädter (75 -> 78)

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Name: Roman Neustädter (Neustadter on the DB)
Date of Birth: Feb 19 1988 (Age: 21)
Current Club: 1. FSV Mainz 05
Position: Centre Back / Defensive Midfield
Height: 1.88 m
Nationality: German
On the DB: 75



Roman Neustädter is the son of successful football player Peter Neustädter (273 professional games in Germany, 3 national team caps for Kazakhstan), who moved to Mainz in 1994, and from this time on his son also played for the Mainz youth teams.
In 2006, when his father retired from professional football, Roman was promoted to the reserves. He took over the spot his father left as a CB in the reserves team.



This season, he made his debut for the first team on the 10th turn when he was subbed in after 83 minutes for a striker against SC Freiburg to secure the 1-0 lead. He then picked up another 6 short sub appearances, until he made his starting XI debut on the 21st turn, and already set up his first goal. He also kept his starting spot for the next game, however, since then, he only made one more start, but also 6 more sub appearances, including one yesterday. In total, he now has 16 games, out of them 13 sub appearances, with 1 assist and 1 yellow card.
He also played 3 games in the DFB-Pokal (the cup), 2 subs and 1 start in the semi-final.



Unlike his father, he decided to play for Germany, and has already been capped for the U-20 NT twice last year, and even scored one goal. He played there in his native CB position, at Mainz he usually played as a DM.


He is on the DB at a rating of 75, and despite his lack of regular games, a small rise to around 78 should be possible. The main reason I decided to mention him is not the short-term riser aspect, but that everytime I saw him play, he really impressed me. Personally, I rate him very highly from what I've seen. Despite being offered a new contract by Mainz, he decided not to renew his contract there, so I hope he signs for a similar club (solid midfield in the 2. Liga with ambitions for the Bundesliga, for example Greuter Fürth, Aachen, Kaiserslautern) and can get a starting spot there (although it has been rumoured that Dortmund with his former coach Jürgen Klopp, Hoffenheim and Leverkusen are also interested), and with the experience he probably gets he can easily be 85+ player IMO.

Update: Moved to Borussia Mönchengladbach

Update: (Nov 4) Rose to 78

Danny Latza (74 -> 76)

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Name: Danny Latza
Date of Birth: July 12 1989 (Age: 20)
Current Club: FC Schalke 04
Position: Defensive / Central Midfield
Height: 1.79 m
Nationality: German



Danny Latza is a home-grown Schalke player, who's gone through all youth teams since his 9th birthday.
He made his debut earlier this year, but his short 5 minute debut wasn't enough to leave anyone impressed.
Today, he replaced the injured Westermann at half-time and took over his spot as a DM/CM. He looked like one of the better Schalke players after the half-time whistle, and almost prevented Schalke from their loss, but after his sliding tackle stopped the shot on the line, the ball was deflected unluckily from his chest and slowly rolled into the net.



He signed his professional contract this January after Ernst's departure, and with Westermann injured and a solid, but unfortunate performance he might get a few more appearances this season.


He's also a regular for Germany's youth teams, and showed some great performances for the U-19 and U-20.



You can see his goal about 50 seconds into the game.



He's on the DB as a DM at rating of 74, and can be snapped up for around 200k - 300k

PS: He should definitely get a decent haircut though.
Update: He got a decent haircut

Update: (Jun 9 2010) Rose to 76

Georg Niedermeier (NoDB -> 80 -> 82 -> 84)

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Name: Georg Niedermeier
Date of Birth: Feb. 26 1986 (Age: 22)
Current Club: VFB Stuttgart (on loan from Bayern Munich)
Position: Centre Back
Height: 1.88 m
Nationality: German


Georg Niedermeier is a physically strong, solid defender coming from the Bayern youth teams. He hasn't played for their first team, but is regularly featured in their line-up for the second team in the new formed 3rd German league. He has played 18 out of possible 20 games (missing 1 because of suspension) for the reserves, many of them as their captain. He's also been sitting on the bench twice in the Bundesliga and once in the Champions League, but hasn't played.
He's been loaned out to Stuttgart until the end of the next season and is then set to return to Bayern, and if you can believe their manager Markus Babbel's words, he could make his professional debut* soon, bringing some competition into Stuttgart's defence.


He's not on the DB yet, but I expect him to make his debut this season, and be added as a CB at a rating of about 75-77.


* Since this season, a new professional 3rd league was created in Germany, but SM don't count them as professional teams (yet)

Update: (Mar 12 2009) added to the DB at a rating of 80

Update: (Nov 5 2009) Rose to 82

Update: (Jun 9 2010) Rose to 84