£58.50m
said a suitably impressed Bastian Schweinsteiger.It was just the early days of a career that would lead to the Austrian full-back bringing up two centuries of Bundesliga appearances for Bayern at the age of 25, in the record champions' "Talent is one thing, but attitude and desire is another, and David has this undying desire to improve and develop," Kern said when Alaba had just moved to Bayern. Getty Images imago images

imago images £58.50m imago images
"Hats off!" And given Alaba's performances there, we're not about to start.Within a month, he had made his first start in the UEFA Champions League in a Round of 16 first leg tie in Florence against Fiorentina. imago images



World citizen, child prodigy, national hero, and brilliant Bayern Munich footballer, David Alaba is one of the game's most talented and well-known characters.The Alaba family is cosmopolitan with a capital C. Dad George is a Nigerian prince and arrived in Vienna to study Economics before becoming the first black guard soldier in the Austrian army — he is now a musician and DJ. "I always hated Bayern," admitted Alaba, who had twice turned down the Bundesliga record champions before eventually agreeing to move to Germany.

"He has has that bite you need." David Olatukunbo Alaba (born 24 June 1992) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays for German club Bayern Munich and the Austria national team. imago images We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. "They had the best training kit and always came to youth tournaments in the nicest bus, and left celebrating." His nerveless ascent to Bayern first-team regular attests to that as do some of the things he has done on the pitch. Getty Images David's mother, Gina, is a nurse, but was named Miss Philippines, the country of her birth, in the 1980s. Louis van Gaal. Getty Images For using this site, please activate JavaScript. Current international:

Highest market value: He had been spotted at a youth tournament in Manchester by Bayern scout Werner Kern. Getty Images SV Aspern (8/2001-08/2002), FK Austria Wien (9/2002-2008), FC Bayern München (2008-2009) And you absolutely didn't see that it was his first game for us from the start," said Bayern great Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Jun 24, 1992 (28) "You have to wonder about the self-belief and cool-headedness he has," Uli Hoeness noted admiringly afterwards. The man to thank for putting him there? Current market value: He wasn't wrong, was he?Alaba's versatility is the stuff of legend: he started as a playmaker at Austria Wien and has since reprised that role for his national team; he played as a defensive midfielder at Hoffenheim and has featured at centre-back for Bayern, but it is at left-back where he has excelled.