TEENAGE Dons defender Lukas Culjak served his apprenticeship at two Champions League-winning giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

He spent 18 months at the prestigious Borussia Dortmund youth academy which produced stars such as Mario Gotze, a World Cup winner with Germany last year and now at Bayern Munich.

Culjak starred for Dortmund U19s in the A-Jugend Bundesliga West and faced Arsenal, Napoli and Olympique de Marseille in the UEFA U19 Youth League.

Prior to that he spent two years at the Bayern Munich youth set-up which produced three-time European Cup champions and World Cup-winning legends Franz Beckenbauer and Sepp Maier.

World Cup 2014 winners Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mats Hummels and Philipp Lahm are also products of the Bayern youth system.

But the lure of a resurgent Dons and possible path to the first team instigated the switch to Scotland.

He said: “It was not a difficult decision to move to Aberdeen.

“I see this club as being very good for me. Paul Sheerin (U20 manager) is a great coach and so is the boss (Derek McInnes).

“I was at two huge clubs in Germany which was great for my football education.

“However, there was no chance of getting into the first team at Borussia Dortmund or Bayern.

“That is why I moved to Aberdeen. For now I have to do my job with the U20s in the league and hopefully get a deal.

“Then if the chance with the first team comes later I will be very happy.”

A Bayern fan, Culjak was at the Allianz Arena for the treble-winning season of Bundesliga, Champions League and German Cup.

Even as part of the youth squad he trained in front of hundreds of spectators every day.

He said: “I am a Bayern fan and they are one of the biggest clubs in the world. It was an incredible experience to be at the club.

“Every time we trained there would be 200 to 300 people there just to watch the young players work.

“It was crazy. Although I did not get to train with the Bayern team we worked at the same time as them. The first team trained on one pitch and the youth players on the one next to them.

“Even when I used to go out in the city with friends people would recognise me as a Bayern player and come up to speak to me.

“That was unbelievable.

“While at Borussia Dortmund I played Arsenal in London in the UEFA U19 League. I also played against Napoli in Italy.

“Those games were great experiences as the crowds were big.”