There have been a number of players that graduated from Bayern Munich’s youth academy that could be seen as “the ones that got away”, with Juventus’ Kenan Yildiz and VfB Stuttgart’s Angelo Stiller perhaps the most notable ones. There were concerns that Grant-Leon Ranos would join that list, too. That has not quite yet happened, though. Having bagged an remarkable 20 goals and 13 assists in the Regionalliga, the fourth division of German football, in an explosive final campaign at the Bavarians, Ranos chose to join Borussia Mönchengladbach on a free transfer in 2023 rather than stay in Munich.
From there, however, the step from the Regionalliga to the Bundesliga has proven rather difficult, as the Armenian unfortunately only tallied 60 minutes in Germany’s top flight for Die Borussen in his 18 months at the club. Ranos needed to take a step back down the footballing pyramid to hone his indisputable talent and it seems he has found a promising place to do just that, via Mönchengladbach’s official twitter account:
Grant-Leon Ranos has joined 1. FC Kaiserslautern on loan for the remainder of the season. Best of luck, Grant!
Kaiserslautern are one of the many fallen giants (and a founding member of the Bundesliga) in the 2. Bundesliga fighting to get promoted back to the top division as one of the twelve teams separated by just 6 points at the top of the 2. Bundesliga table. Yes, seriously, if one has not kept up with the 2. Bundesliga table then do so, the top spot goes to a different team every week and it is beautiful. Ranos joins the insanity with last season’s DFB Pokal finalist and gets the chance to finally play regularly again. At 21, it is high time he gets some minutes to work towards fulfilling his potential.
