Twenty-year-old Wellington Phoenix playmaker Sarpreet Singh is set to sign with German giants Bayern Munich on a three year contract, according to Sky Sports NZ commentator Jason Pine.
Pine’s corroboration follows reports which surfaced this morning linking the young Kiwi to the Bundesliga club. Speaking on Evenings on FNR, Pine confirmed that Singh has spent the last two to three days in Germany at the invitation of the Bayern.
“He and his family are in Munich having a look around, the latest we are hearing is that he has a three-year-deal in front of him to join one of the super powers of world football.
“It’s quite stunning stuff, obviously players from down this end of the world do earn overseas transfers, I guess Australians more than Kiwis…this is as big a transfer as I can recall really in New Zealand football,” said Pine.
Singh would play for the reserves, which no doubt will still be a very competitive team, with view of first team down the track. Bayern Munich’s second string were promoted to 3.Liga [third tier] for the upcoming season, where the likes of Kaiserslautern and TSV 1860 Munich await as opposition.
“While obviously disappointing to lose a player of Sarpreet’s calibre, they were always well aware that this was just a stepping stone for him.
“As often the A-League is for our top young players. There’s no way they will stand in the way of this.
“I spoke to the general manager David Dome this morning and he said ‘we’re thrilled for Sarpreet’.
“Imagine the football operations manager at Wellington Phoenix getting an email or phone call from Bayern Munich! You’d pick the date make sure it was April the 1st,” Pine said.
Singh has just come back from his second FIFA U-20 World Cup, having participated in the last edition in 2017, Korea Republic as well as the 2019 version in Poland. The Young Kiwis made the round of 16 and Singh got himself on the scoresheet.
It seems with his international exposure over the past three years and his domestic success, Munich have kept a close eye on him across a long period of time.
“They were very interested.
“They’ve been watching him for some time I understand, he played for New Zealand at the U-20 World Cup but they were well aware of him before then.
“They’ve come down under and found a 20-year-old Kiwi they like the look of and here we are, it’s quite some story.”
In his second A-League season, Singh started 22 of 26 games and notched up an 80 percent successful pass rate (644/805). In addition he scored five goals and completed eight assists with 43 key passes.
“He goes with all the tools and we are just fascinated and very curious to find out where he goes from here.”
