Bundesliga
Who is Liam Morrison?
Bayern Munich's Scottish youngster Liam Morrison is now on the fringes of first team football at the Allianz Arena. bundesliga.com has the lowdown on the coveted youngster hoping to make a splash in Germany...
Age: 20
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Centre-back
Country: Scotland U21s (2 caps)
Key stats
Morrison only turned 16 in April 2019, but had already been linked with Hoffenheim, among others, before joining Bayern in August that year. The teenager was part of Celtic’s first team squad on a pre-season training camp in Switzerland in the month prior to his move to Bayern, and made his senior debut in a 6-1 win over Austrian lower league side Pinkafeld. The the tall, highly-rated stopper had already featured at U16 and U17 level for his country by then and he has racked up a total of 25 youth international caps. He made his U21 debut for Scotland against Iceland on 17 September 2022 and now has two caps for the U21s.
Since moving to Bayern's academy, Morrison has made a steady rise through the club's youth ranks, featuring 14 times and scoring twice in his first season with the U17s before moving up to the U19 team after the global pandemic and eventually progressing to the second team in the 2021/22 campaign. Injury saw the young Scot miss the majority of the first half of the 2022/23 season, but he has been a mainstay in Bayern's reserves since his return to action. The now 20-year-old defender has played in all but three of the side's last 18 games. Morrison made his first appearance in a Bundesliga squad on Matchday 31, serving as an unused substitute in the 2-1 win at Werder Bremen.
Plays a bit like: Mats Hummels
It's easy to see why Morrison is regarded by many as the best centre-half prospect to come out of Scotland. The 20-year-old is the very definition of a modern centre-back, combining sentry-like qualities with cultured build-up play. Indeed, watching him march out from the back with the ball at his feet, there's definitely a touch of Mats Hummels - formerly of Bayern, now of Borussia Dortmund - about his game.
And he has ambitions to replicate Hummels' status as an era-defining defender, saying he too wants to reach the very top of his profession. "The final goal for me is to be the best defender in the world, that is the ultimate goal," Morrison told the Daily Mail shortly after signing for Bayern. "It needs so much hard work and I know I have a long way to go to get to where I want to be. I have to keep my feet on the ground, stay grounded and work hard. How I get there is by constantly trying to make myself a better player. Playing alongside great players can only help me in that respect."
Watch: Mats Hummels - 15 seasons, 15 goals
Did you know?
Morrison could one day become only the ninth Scotsman to play in the Bundesliga, after Scott Booth (Borussia Dortmund, 1997–98), Oliver Burke (RB Leipzig, 2016–17), Paul Lambert (Dortmund, 1996–98), Murdo MacLeod (Dortmund, 1987–91), Mark McGhee, Hamburg, 1984–86), Alan McInally (Bayern, 1989–92), Vincent Mennie (Cologne, 1983–86) and Brian O'Neil (VfL Wolfsburg, 1998–2000).
What they’re saying
"Liam had a lot of offers from some well-known European clubs. We're delighted he decided to join Bayern. He's a robust and physical defender with a lot of quality." - Bayern academy manager, Jochen Sauer
"When the Bayern offer came along, it's not really a club you can turn down is it It was such an attractive offer. It was a no-brainer for me and my family... It was a dream come true for a club the size of Bayern Munich to be interested in me." - Morrison on an offer he couldn't refuse