Alphonso Davies: The Road Runner of Bayern Munich

"Davies is a special kid and the way he is performing in every match it won’t take time for this kid to become one of the best left-backs in the world"


The prolific number 9 of Bayern Munich, Robert Lewandowski struck twice against Fortuna Dusseldorf, and with that, he has now scored against all the opponents in Bundesliga. Again, it is now the outright leading scorer in European football this season, with 29 efforts recorded in the Bundesliga.

Lewandowski can add a further 13 strikes to that list across domestic cup and Champions League outings, taking him onto 43 in total.

Only once before has Lewandowski scaled such heights, back in 2016-17, although he is accustomed to breaking the 40-goal barrier – having reached that figure in five successive seasons.

It was business as usual for Bayern and Lewandowski – Fortuna were simply steamrolled. After the break of Coronavirus, this is a different Bayern altogether, who are showing their intent to dream big and win each and every title, that comes in their way.

Bayern of 2019-20 is not only about Lewandowski, but there are players in and each and every department, who are shining brightly. Someone like Alphonso Davies seems to be shining in every match.

The early days

Davies was born in Buduburam, a refugee camp in the Gomoa East District of Ghana, to Liberian parents. His parents lived there after fleeing their homeland during the Second Liberian Civil War, which displaced more than 450,000 people in Liberia. When Davies was five, his family moved to Canada, eventually relocating to Edmonton. On June 6, 2017, he officially received Canadian citizenship.

Even though football is not a popular sport in Canada like Ice Hockey or Basketball, but Davies had a nag in playing football. He started in the streets and his youth journey started off in Edmonton Internationals and Edmonton Strikers. After that, he joined Whitecaps FC Residency at the age of 14 in 2015.

After joining Vancouver Whitecaps FC during their 2016 MLS preseason tour, Davies signed with Whitecaps FC 2 in the USL on February 23, 2016.

At the time of his signing, he became the youngest player signed to a USL contract at 15 years, 3 months. Davies made his professional debut for Whitecaps FC 2 at the age of 15 years, 5 months in April 2016. On May 15, 2016, he scored his first professional goal, making him the youngest goalscorer in USL history at 15 years, 6 months. He scored two goals in 11 games played during the 2016 season.

The impressive journey at the Whitecaps FC

Davies was named to the Whitecaps roster for the 2016 Canadian Championship on a short term contract.On June 1, 2016, he made his first-team debut in the first leg of the Canadian Championship against the Ottawa Fury and started the second leg in Vancouver.

On July 15, 2016, Davies signed a first-team contract with the Whitecaps through 2018, with options for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. At the time of his signing, he was the youngest active player in Major League Soccer (MLS), and the third-youngest player to have signed an MLS contract.

Davies made his MLS debut on July 16, 2016, becoming the second-youngest player to play in MLS, behind Freddy Adu. In September 2016, he scored his first goal for the first team in the 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League against Sporting Kansas City in injury time to send the club through to the knockout round.

In September 2016, Davies became the second-youngest starter in MLS history when he started a game against the Colorado Rapids.  On October 2, 2016, he started against rival club Seattle Sounders FC earning a penalty kick. During the 2016 season, Davies played in eight MLS games, four Canadian Championship games, and three games in the CONCACAF Champions League.

He was one of the 60 best young soccer talents in the world in 2017.

In the 2018 season opener against the Montreal Impact, Davies scored his first goal in MLS action and assisted on a Kei Kamara goal.

On June 10, 2018, Davies proved his worth yet again – he stuck once and assisted twice in the game against Orlando and then he struck twice and assisted the same against Minnesota United. He featured in the MLS All-Star XI for the match against Juventus on June 29, 2018. The match was decided by spot-kicks, which went in favour of Juve.

He was named Vancouver Whitecaps FC Player of the Year Award and also received Whitecaps’ Goal of the Year Award.

It’s time for fly in Europe

The scouts of Big Clubs had been following the talent and skill of Davies. Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool showed their interest in signing this young talent. In the end, On July 25, 2018, Vancouver announced that it had agreed to a multi-million-dollar transfer of Davies to Bundesliga club Bayern Munich, with Davies seeing out the 2018 MLS season with Vancouver, before joining Bayern in January 2019.

The base fee for the transfer was US$13.5 million, with performance-related bonuses that total $22 million, a then-record for MLS, later eclipsed by the transfer of Miguel Almiron to Newcastle United.

The Road Runner of Bayern Munich

Davies had his first training session with Bayern on November 21, 2018, and debuted on January 12, 2019, against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Telekom Cup championship finale, which Bayern won on penalties following a scoreless draw.

Davies made his Bundesliga debut on January 27 against VfB Stuttgart, appearing as a late substitute for Kingsley Coman in a 3–1 victory.

Since his debut for Bayern, Davies seems to have added the X-factor on the left-back position. His pace makes him a deadly weapon and when he amalgamates accuracy and dribbling skills with it – he becomes an unstoppable force. Then it is not about just speed and skill – he has proved instrumental in creating opportunities for Bayern players at the center of the opposition penalty box.

But his pace is exquisite - Against Dortmund, he hogged the limelight for reaching 35.3km/h in a sprint to dispossess Erling Haaland. But, incredibly, Davies went and exceeded that speed against FortunaHe reached 35.4km/h chasing back an opponent to win back the ball. Better still, Bayern went on to take a 1-0 lead thanks to Davies recovering possession.

Davies was instrumental in the move that led to Bayern's first goal in the 15th minute yesterday. After Duesseldorf regained possession after a Bayern corner and started up the field, Davies won the ball back. Five passes later it was in the back of the Duesseldorf net courtesy of an own goal.

He is unbelievably quick which led Thomas Muller jokingly tag him as the Road Runner in an interview after the match against Borussia Dortmund.

Davies said about the tag, “I know the cartoon. I saw him as a child. Yes, I'm quick. I took it as a compliment that he [Muller] called me Road Runner. It's a good nickname for me”.

“I don't think too much about the comments. I come here every day and do what I have to do and try to win as many games as possible”.

“We had a tough game against Dortmund on Tuesday. We also wanted to show the mentality in this game and get the three points. We did that”.


“David Alaba was in praise about his defensive partner, “This is a super boy who puts his foot down every day in training. He always tries to learn. He also listens and tries to implement it. You can see that very well at the weekend that he enjoys developing himself further. He just does it brilliantly”.

Bayern's sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic was also impressed by Davies' performance but noted his extreme speed can be both a blessing and a curse if not used right.

“He fitted in very well, of course he has the speed that helps him. Of course, he relies on this and therefore makes one or two technical mistakes," Salihamidzic said.

“We are working on it in training with him. We take him with us, try to take care of him and do everything around it so that he can perform on the pitch”.

“He does it very well and is very clear. But you can't put the boys in cotton wool. You have to make sure that they stay tuned and continue working. He is very professional”.

Davies is a special kid and the way he is performing in every match it won’t take time for this kid to become one of the best left-backs in the world.

Note: This article has been published at Cricketsoccer on 31/05/2020 Alphonso Davies: The Road Runner of Bayern Munich 

Thank You
Faisal Caesar