About 24 hours after putting pen to paper on a contract with Bayern Munich, Alphonso Davies was back in training with the Vancouver Whitecaps on Thursday.
Davies, 17, addressed local media for the first time since the record-breaking transfer, stating that this achieves a childhood goal.
“Being able to sign for a club like Bayern Munich is exciting. I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a kid,” Davies said in a media scrum after training. “Those are the guys that – you know – as a kid, I was looking up to. Watching them on TV, playing with them on FIFA. Getting to be able to meet them and being able to play on the team is just exciting.”
“I talked to [Bayern midfielder] Javi Martinez. That’s the only player I met. He just said, ‘Welcome. Hope to see you soon’ and that he can’t wait to hang out with me, I guess!”
In terms of Bayern’s plans for the Canadian, Davies didn’t go into specifics but seems optimistic about his chances once he lands in Germany.
“They showed me their plan for me on the field,” Davies said. “They showed me how they’ll put me in the team or at least try to put me in the team if I perform enough.”
The teenager also confirmed that “a lot of clubs showed interest” in his services. The likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Liverpool were all linked with the attacker before Bayern jumped ahead in the queue.
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Davies claims that he was unaware of Bayern’s interest until the closing stages of negotiations before flying out to Philadelphia to complete the deal.
“I don’t know, a couple of weeks before, a couple of days before things happened,” Davies said when asked about when he was made aware of Bayern’s interest. “They told me about it and I was excited. Obviously being scouted by a top club like that can be exciting.”
You can listen to the full audio below.
