It happened a year after the new enthusiasm in German football, a year after the World Cup hosted by Germany. The DFB’s process was in power for some time now and Kimmich arrived in Stuttgart, at one of the best football academies in the country.

That was where he grew and progressed, soaking it all in like a sponge. He was turning into a player with the style of play which will become desirable at every big club.

Intelligent and of a smaller build, Kimmich was a central midfielder through all youth categories. He was learning how to manage himself in the densest area of the pitch. In the area where everyone wants control, there where space is a luxury.

In the summer of 2012, when he was just 17, Kimmich was transferred to Stuttgart’s under-19s team. By the time the next summer arrived, one of the growing forces of German football had to react. RB Leipzig maybe never were favoured by the German public because of their somewhat murky formation and operating ways. Yet, their board has always been making wise moves.

One of such moves was when they brought in famous Ralph Rangnick to be their sporting director. Rangnick was one of those, as Honigstein pointed out in “Das Reboot”, who said German football needed reform. That was back in 1998. Everyone was still sleeping on laurels due to the European Championships win in 1996. He was the one that looked into the future — and he was right like he often was.

Rangnick also looked into the future in 2013 when he said Leipzig must bring in a certain Joshua Kimmich. The club from Eastern Germany — which was then still in the third tier — splashed half a million euros for the player. After all, they were “energised” by the money of a well-known Austrian company.

It might sound like a phrase, but Kimmich at Leipzig improved with every passing day. It only took him two years to get from an 18-year old facing professional football for the first time to become Bayern Munich’s regular. In the meantime, he played 55 matches in Bundesliga 3 and Bundesliga 2. His Leipzig earned promotions in both seasons, so in 2015–16 he had the chance of playing against them for the first time.

When Pep and Bayern call…

It was then that Kimmich received the call impossible to decline. Yet, that call was not a surprise. Ever since the day Pep Guardiola turned up at one Leipzig’s match, it was clear Kimmich will move sooner rather than later. That day Kimmich must remember — it was 22 December 2014 and Leipzig played against 1860 Munich. The result of the match remains irrelevant. Guardiola had seen what he wanted to see.

Kimmich showed what he was all about. He was the main player on the pitch, controlling the tempo of the match. The ball barely ever left his feet. That blond kid, tall only 175 centimetres, shrewdly kept the ball safe at the most ‘vulnerable’ part of the pitch. Often, he would borrow it to his friends without making a mistake. Looking at him, the fans could forget he was just a teenager playing in Zweite Bundesliga.