Outstanding left-back talent Richard Ajayi trains with Bayern Munich’s first team for first time

Bayern Munich’s academy has been flush with left-back talent for many years now. Including Alphonso Davies is perhaps cheating, given he only played a handful of matches for the U-23s and was clearly not signed for the academy. Even so, the likes of Matteo Pérez Vinlöf, Adam Aznou and Maximilian Hennig are just a few names that are currently plying their trade in top divisions around the world after making their way through the FC Bayern academy.

But yet more names are making their way through the system. 18-year-old Deniz Ofli and 16-year-old Richard Ajayi are the two standout names at left back currently in the academy. Ofli has already trained multiple times with the first team and even made his (non-competitive) debut for Bayern in the friendly against RB Salzburg in January 2026. But Bild reports, as captured by @iMiaSanMia, that Ajayi made his very first appearance in the Bayern first team recently:

With Davies and [Hiroki] Itō still sidelined, U17 left-back Richard Ajayi (16) trained with the first team for the first time today.

Bild is wrong about which age group Ajayi is in, though. He graduated to the U-19s over the winter and has firmly solidified himself as the starting left back for the team despite his tender age. Given this and his promotion to the U-17s as a 14-year-old, Ajayi has a propensity for playing at a higher level than expected of his age. The Nigerian is yet another talent in the academy that Bayern fans can follow with some interest.