Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt will have a rather unexpected name on their team sheet next season - Nelson Mandela.

The German club have offered a professional contract to Mandela, an 18-year-old striker from Cameroon.

He certainly has a lot to live up to - not least because he shares a name with the great former president of South Africa, who died in 2013.

German side Eintracht Frankfurt have offered a professional contract to Nelson Mandela (left)

Mandela began his youth career at Barcelona, before leaving La Masia at the age of 13 and moving to Germany.

After a year at Hoffenheim's academy, Mandela - whose full name is Nelson Mandela Mbouhom - transferred to Frankfurt where he has been a star in their youth set-up.

Mandela scored eight goals in 14 games for the Frankfurt under-19 side, and has been touted as a future star in the German media.

Mandela, an 18-year-old forward from Cameroon, has a very big name to live up to

Now, at the age of 18, he has been granted a work permit in Germany and will join up with the senior set-up next season.

Frankfurt finished 11th in the Bundesliga last season, and manager Niko Kovac will hope Mandela proves as wise, determined and successful as his namesake.

Mandela the politician - who became South Africa's first black president in 1994 after the abolition of apartheid - later successfully campaigned for the country to be the first African nation to host the World Cup, in 2010.