W e’ve rated and slated the most exciting young players to watch in 2013 on Just Football, youngsters from England, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, and The Netherlands. Now The 10 Series is back with our 2014/15 edition – the lowdown on 60 of the best young players in Europe this season.

Next up is The 10 Series 2014/15 – Bundesliga edition, our pick of Bundesliga best young players to watch this season.

Previously: The 10 Series 2014/15 – Part I – Best Eredivisie youngsters | Part II – La Liga | Part III – Serie A

See here for: The Bundesliga 10 Series Class of 2013 & Bundesliga 10 Series Class of 2013 Annual Review

The 10 Series – Bundesliga best young players 2014/15:

Roberto Firmino

(1899 Hoffenheim, 22 years old)

Arguably the best young player in the Bundesliga today (and a candidate for best uncapped Brazilian in the world) the stuff Roberto Firmino is getting up to in Germany at present is quite extraordinary. The Brazilian playmaker joined Hoffenheim in January 2011 and helped them avoid relegation in 2012/13 before his talent arc soared in 2013/14. Last season he became one of the most effective players in Germany, scoring 16 goals (Bundesliga joint fourth top scorer) and grabbing 11 assists (second top provider behind Marco Reus).

Firmino’s array of goals; right footed, left footed, volleys, no-look finishes, scorchers from distance – you name it, show just what a talented young player the 22-year-old Kicker is. He was voted 2013/14’s best foreign-based Brazilian player by ESPN Brazil recently and his value has rocketed. All the major clubs in Europe are thought to be interested, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Inter Milan in particular.

Fortunately for Hoffenheim and the Bundesliga in general (games involving Hoffenheim saw more goals than any other team last season) Firmino – who thrives in a pacy, counter-attacking team – recently extended his contract until 2017. An exceptional young talent.

Josip Drmic

(Bayer Leverkusen, 22 years old)

Third top scorer in the Bundesliga last season behind Robert Lewandowski and Mario Mandzukic, Josip Drmic is already making waves in German football despite only recently turning 22. A Borussia Dortmund fan by birth, the Swiss international striker – who describes himself as “Swiss in morals but Croatian in mentality” – banged in 17 goals in 33 Bundesliga apperances last season for Nürnberg.

Drmic is a quick-witted, right-footed striker who comes alive in the area and boasts a good burst of acceleration to evade defenders. His impressive debut Bundesliga campaign, having joined from FC Zurich where he’d scored 13 goals in 31 games the previous year, quickly attracted admirers. Bayer Leverkusen swooped in the summer to add Drmic to an increasingly attractive squad.

One of Drmic’s key strengths is his versatility. He can play as an out-and-out number 9 or wide right in a front three and of his 17 goals for Nürnberg, nine were scored with his right foot, seven with his left and one a header.

The talented young striker does have weaknesses to his game however: his passing accuracy last season was a measly 67% making him one of the top 15 worst strikers in the league for ball retention. Nevertheless, his potential as a goalscorer is clear.

Max Meyer

(Schalke 04, 18 years old)

Following in the golden footsteps of players like Mesut Ozil and 2013 10 Series alumni Julian Draxler, Max Meyer is the latest excitng young prospect off Schalke 04’s production line. The microscopic, Oberhausen-born attacking midfielder broke into Schalke’s senior team in February 2013, scoring six goals since from a playmaking position behind the striker.

The teenager names Mario Goetze, Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta as role models, but there’s something of a young Paul Scholes in the way Meyer accurately times his late runs into the box to get on the end of chances. He’s adept at finding spaces and capitalising on defensive hesitations, his wonderfully quick feet and technique cultivated thanks to his futsal background.

Likened to Messi in Germany, Meyer says the comparisons make him feel ‘uncomfortable’. “Besides,” says the similarly diminutive forward, “though I wear number 10 I see myself more as the sharp tip than as the director of play.” Capped once for Germany already, the kid surely has a big future.

Heung-Min Son

(Bayer Leverkusen, 22 years old)

Heung-Min Son will be well known to Bundesliga audiences: the South Korean has been on the scene in Germany since breaking through at Hamburg in 2010 and is now entering his fifth season as a senior professional after transferring to Bayer Leverkusen in 2013. But there’s something in the way Son carried an otherwise desperate South Korea side at the World Cup that suggests he’s on the way to becoming a truly top player.

As the youngest member of the team, Son showed a maturity beyond his years in Brazil, the energetic, inventive focal point of the side and arguably their best player. He’s only 21, let’s not forget. The pacy, enterprising wide man/forward already has 35 senior goals to his name and will only get better. A key player for Die Werkself already.

Julian Brandt

(Bayer Leverkusen, 18 years old)

With his shock of blond hair and boyish looks there’s something Bieber-esque about Julian Brandt (same initials, too). But the 1996-born youngster has already shown he has outstanding potential, despite only completing one full Bundesliga match to date.

Another starlet at the Bayer Leverkusen talent farm, the 18-year-old was plucked from Wolfsburg earlier this year and was part of Germany’s UEFA Under-19 European Championship-winning squad this summer. Brandt is a classy, attacking midfielder/wide forward with a brilliant eye for a pass and impressive ability to jink past a man in wide areas. Recent winner of the Fritz Walter award for Germany’s most highly-rated Under-18 prospect, Brandt is one to keep an eye on.

Ricardo Rodriguez

(Wolfsburg, 22 years old)

Another in The 10 Series 2014 list to have played a World Cup before his 22nd birthday, there is evidence to suggest that if Wolfsburg defender Ricardo Rodriguez continues this rapid upward trajectory he could be set for a career as one of the game’s top left backs.

The dynamic Swiss international rocking the classic beard-plus-ponytail roadie combo completed all 90 minutes of every one of Wolfsburg’s 34 league games last season (one of only seven outfield players to do so in the division). He made 2.2 key passes per game, grabbed nine assists and scored five goals.

He also delivers a wicked set piece with that sweet left foot. Defensively he can improve and sometimes lapses late in games (perhaps due to spending 90 minutes bombing up and down the touchline) but Rodriguez has the raw materials to be a top class player.

Hakan Çalhanoglu

(Bayer Leverkusen, 20 years old)

Jurgen Klopp’s look said it all. It was the 91st minute at the Imtech Arena and Hamburg were 2-0 up against Borussia Dortmund. Hakan Çalhanoglu stepped up to take a free kick. That the Turkish international started his run up inside the centre circle told you everything. I mean come on – sure, Çalhanoglu is a set-piece specialist but this was taking the biscuit, right?

Wrong.

Çalhanoglu slapped it into the net from fully 40-45 yards, humiliating Roman Weidenfeller and raising a wry, resigned smirk of admiration from Klopp. That’s just what Çalhanoglu does.

Last season 11 goals and four assists in a struggling Hamburg side (and a massive summer strop in which he called in sick to avoid training) earned the 20-year-old a move to Bayer Leverkusen for €14.5m. Question marks about his attitude mean the jury is still out at JF Towers over whether Çalhanoglu can develop into a truly world class player. But his talent cannot be ignored. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, and we expect him to flourish in return. Prove us right, Hakan!

Gianluca Gaudino

(Bayern Munich, 17 years old)

When Pep Guardiola calls a seventeen-year-old up from the academy and plonks him straight into the first team at one of the biggest clubs in the world, you know you’re dealing with a special talent. Gianluca Gaudino, a classy, ball-playing midfielder who has the kind of La Masia-derived, possession-based profile you can just imagine Pep going weak at the knees for, is that type of talent.

Guadino is an early entry into The 10 Series – he’ll still be in his teens long after Euro 2016 has ended, after all – but a worthy entrant, we say. Completed 97% of his 59 passes on his Bundesliga debut against Wolfsburg and Guardiola has raved about his football brain. Good enough for us.

Johannes Geis

(FSV Mainz 05, 21 years old)

An enthusiastic, hard-working director of play who distributes the ball well and has the strength of character to basically boss around players nearly 15 years his senior, Johannes Geis makes The 10 Series this year by way of his excellent season at Mainz 05 in 2013/14.

Geis grew up at Greuther Furth (how’s that for alliteration) establishing himself in a side that were relegated from the Bundesliga in 2012/13 before leaving the Kleeblätter to join Thomas Tuchel’s band of merry men for €900k. The 21-year-old is worth a lot more than that now.

Geis, who loves a pouty selfie with his missus, doesn’t score many goals, being the holding midfielder that he is. But when he does they’re exceptional, as an effort from the halfway line against Chemnitzer FC in the DFB Pokal (German Cup) in August exemplified. His three senior goals in league and Bundesliga to date have all been outstanding. Capped at U21 level for Germany, Geis is our kind of player.

Robin Knoche

(Wolfsburg, 22 years old)

Robin Knoche, you say? What about Mattias Ginter? Why not Antonio Rüdiger, Jonathan Tah or Erik Durm? Well, it was tough to make the call here. Durm is developing rapidly after a shaky start while the other three are often-touted. But Knoche looks a phenomenal prospect at centre back and having been named to Wolfsburg’s team committee – the Wolves’ inner circle of trusted lieutenants – this season it looks like Knoche is already being groomed as future captain material.

Knoche outperformed the aforementioned Ginter, Tah and Rüdiger in almost every defensive criteria possible last season, winning more aerial duels, making more interceptions and making less defensive errors. The tall, composed centre back is also comfortable on the ball and a leader. Definitely one to watch in the coming years.

What are your thoughts on our pick of the 10 Bundesliga best young players for 2014/15? Let us know below or on Twitter @JustFootball.

Photo #1 courtesy of Fugutio via Wikimedia Commons

Photo #2 courtesy of LGEPR via Flickr

Photo #3 courtesy of Inisheer via Wikimedia Commons