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On the way to the pros

2022-07-03T11:11:16.240Z


On the way to the pros Created: 07/03/2022, 1:00 p.m By: Bernd Heinzinger Difficult to hold: At 1.90 meters tall, Nicolas Meurer (r.), here in the game against FC Bayern, has a physical advantage. © Private Another top soccer talent comes from the district of Erding. Eichenried/Nuremberg – 16-year-old Nicolas Meurer, who grew up in Eichenried, made the leap to 1. FC Nürnberg and is now living


On the way to the pros

Created: 07/03/2022, 1:00 p.m

By: Bernd Heinzinger

Difficult to hold: At 1.90 meters tall, Nicolas Meurer (r.), here in the game against FC Bayern, has a physical advantage.

© Private

Another top soccer talent comes from the district of Erding.

Eichenried/Nuremberg – 16-year-old Nicolas Meurer, who grew up in Eichenried, made the leap to 1. FC Nürnberg and is now living his dream of professional football.

After an outstanding season with the Franconians in the U17 Bayernliga, he was able to look forward to a contract for the U17 Bundesliga in the upcoming round of points.

The left-back's career began at the age of seven in Eichenried, where his parents lived until they moved to Niederding in 2020.

Meurer quickly became one of the best there, but at that time still as a striker.

The move to Altenerding followed two years later, and there was already an impressive success with fourth place in the big Merkur CUP final.

The left foot continued to impress in attack, "in the D youth he once scored 46 goals in one season", as his father Michael Meurer - himself once active in the regional league - says.

This was followed by an offer from TSV 1860 Munich, which Nicolas Meurer rejected at the age of 13 due to the great effort involved.

In 2019 he preferred to move to the German football boarding school in Bad Aibling.

The job there is to train young players for the youth academies of the Bundesliga.

In the league, Eichenrieder was now able to compete with Bayern's best youngsters in the regional league, and just a year and a half later 1. FC Nürnberg took notice of him.

The coaches of the second division took a close look at him during four trial sessions, emphasizes Michael Meurer: "In the end they wanted him, but surprisingly not as a striker, but as a left-back." Of course, the 16-year-old gave the immediate commitment, too once he found the new position on the field "weird".

"At first I thought they mistook me for someone else," he says.

The young footballer gave it his all in training and quickly settled into his new role.

"Obviously I still have to improve my defensive work, so I'm learning something new every day.

Luckily, the coaches want defenders with attacking urges," he says.

There are hardly any classic wingers left in the squad, and a modern left-back can often be found in attack as well.

Alphonso Davies from FC Bayern is a prime example and certainly one of the role models for Nicolas Meurer.

The 16-year-old has four training sessions a week in the evenings, two to three times in the mornings as part of school lessons and games at the weekend.

For his parents, schooling is at least as important as football.

The man from Neu-Niederdingen got his high school diploma with an overall grade of 2.0 and will be going to the FOS at Nuremberg's elite soccer school next year.

Unforgettable moment: Nicolas Meurer was once in the big Merkur CUP final with the SpVgg Altenerding youth team.

© Private

Nicolas Meurer can also be very satisfied with his first season as a left-back: With 1. FCN he was first Bavarian Champion North and in the end second overall - only the Bavarians from Munich were a bit stronger in the end.

He developed into an absolute regular player, played all games from the start and was able to score four strong goals himself, as well as assisting five more goals.

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The parents are always informed in great detail about his development, as father Michael Meurer explains: "Every three months there is a meeting where strengths and weaknesses are pointed out in detail." In the U17s, Meurer is the strongest player in terms of mentality with his 1.90 meters tall very athletic.

There was also praise for his ability to continue to act positionally and technically well under pressure.

The technology was initially seen as a small disadvantage compared to other players who had already spent their entire career in the youth academies.

But here, too, Nicolas Meurer is catching up quickly.

In any case, the 16-year-old likes it very much in Nuremberg, even if moving away from home and from his parents was difficult at first: “Of course it was a change with your own apartment.

But I quickly became more independent and soon found good friends in Nuremberg,” he enthuses.

A family atmosphere is also very important for the coaches.

The young talent is looking forward to the upcoming challenge in the U17 Bundesliga: "Playing there is something very special and I start with a lot of respect." He hopes to show his dominant style of play with lots of ball possession à la Alphonso Davies there too be able.

"Of course it's getting more and more difficult, and I'll still have to gain some experience."

His father Michael is convinced: “The prerequisites are right for him.

Everything that cannot be trained is available to Nicolas, and everything else he can still acquire.

But he has to go full throttle in every training session.” Because one thing is clear: From the circle of the Nuremberg U17 Bundesliga squad, maybe just ten to 15 percent make it into the professional field, be it in the first, second or third division.

Nicolas Meurer's dream of becoming a professional footballer lives on, and the intelligent young man will continue to invest everything for a successful football career.

Source: merkur

All sports articles on 2022-07-03

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