Trio of Champions League winners look unrecognisable together in throwback photo

03 January 2024 , 09:00

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Trio of Champions League winners look unrecognisable together in throwback photo

Youngsters can often be touted for great things in football - and now an old photo has emerged of three players who would go on to taste Champions League glory.

Taken well over a decade ago, the picture of a group of Stuttgart youth players consists of three Champions League winners and few will recognise them in a snap which is testament to the academy system Stuttgart have been running for the past two decades.

Bayern Munich duo Joshua Kimmich and Serge Gnabry are both present with RB Leipzig player Timo Werner, with the three pictured alongside the lesser celebrated Marius Kunde, now playing lower league football in Germany with SG Sonnenhof Großaspach.

Kimmich, 28, is sporting long brown hair, an entirely different look from the short crop he currently sports. Gnabry meanwhile, the same age has his current teammate, has tried a variety of different barnets over the years, a far cry from his shaven-headed appearance as a youngster.

Werner, 27, has long and curly locks in the photo, as opposed to the short hair he's maintained throughout his senior career. But regardless of how they've changed their appearance, all three have gone on to taste glory in Europe's elite club competition.

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Kimmich, currently linked with both Liverpool and Manchester United, has been pivotal to the German champions since signing from Stuttgart in 2015. And in 2020, behind closed doors in Lisbon, he provided the crucial assist to Kingsley Coman has Bayern beat PSG 1-0 in Lisbon to win the Champions League for the sixth time.

Timo Werner (left), Serge Gnabry (second right) and Joshua Kimmich (right) together in the youth team at Stuttgart

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Gnabry also played in that game, although he did take a different route to Bayern. He initially left his native country and had five years in London with Arsenal, failing to ever hold down a regular place under Arsene Wenger. Short stints at West Brom and Werder Bremen followed before Bayern came calling in 2017.

And just 12 months later, it was Werner lifting the title with Chelsea. He left his boyhood club for RB Leipzig in 2016, joining Chelsea four years later. And despite an underwhelming two years in England, his first season was capped by playing in the final as the Blues beat Man City 1-0 in Porto.

Werner is now back at Leipzig and preparing for a last-16 tie with Real Madrid in February. For Kimmich and Gnabry meanwhile, their Bayern side face Lazio having helped condemn Man United to an early exit in the group stages.

Fraser Watson