Who is Gabriel Vidović?

Gabriel Vidović
Age: 20
Club: Mainz (on loan from Bayern Munich)
Position: Attacking midfielder
Country: Croatia (16 U21 caps / two goals)

Key stats

Born in Augsburg on 1 December 2003, Vidović made his early footballing forays with the Fuggerstädter before joining the Bayern youth set-up in the summer of 2016. His ties to the Swabian city are strong and Vidović still lived in Augsburg with his family while in the Bayern academy, with a club driver collecting him for the 75-mile round-trip four times a week.

Up until the age of 18, he balanced his football with his school studies and had long days that were based around his commute to and from the FC Bayern Campus. "I'm at school in the morning, until about 3pm," he said. "So at 3.30pm I go to training and in the evening around 9pm I'm home again."

Having been quickly moved up from the U17s in 2019/20 and to the U19s in 2020/21, Vidović caught the eye in Bayern's reserves in 2021/22. The then 18-year-old was the team's top scorer with a whopping 21 goals, while he has added a further 10 assists in just 30 appearances.

That form led to former first team head coach Julian Nagelsmann inviting Vidović to train with the senior squad a number of times, and the teenager made his first senior Bayern matchday squad in the Champions League round of 16 first leg away to Red Bull Salzburg in March 2022 - a month after he penned a new deal that extended his contract with the record Bundesliga champions until June 2025.

Vidović became the 11th Croatian to represent Bayern and surpassed fellow German-Croatian Josip Stanišić as Bayern's youngest Croat when he made his professional debut against Arminia Bielefeld on Matchday 30 of 2021/22.

Stanišić was also on the pitch at the time to welcome Vidović into the fold as the latter played the final minute of the game. He was given more minutes as he came on as a 67th minute sub against Mainz on Matchday 32. 

Vidović turned professional with Bayern on 1 July 2022 and enjoyed a successful loan spell at Dutch top-flight side Vitesse Arnhem in 2022/23, scoring four times in 25 league outings. That was followed by a stint at Dynamo Zagreb in 2023/24 (one goal in nine games). 

He featured in all of Bayern's pre-season friendlies ahead of the 2024/25 season and was part of the team's summer tour to Asia, even scoring the opener in the 2-1 friendly win over Tottenham Hotspur in Seoul, before his switch on loan to Mainz on deadline day in August 2024. 

Watch: Skip to 50 seconds in the video below for Vidović's goal against Tottenham

Plays a bit like: Luka Modrić

Vidović is crystal clear when asked who his biggest inspiration is. "Modrić is my role model, and I absorb his every move," he told Croatian website Tportal.hr in July 2021. "Of course, he's my idol among Croatian players, and Nikola Vlašić is right behind him. However, he's still younger, so I'm still following Modrić."

And while Modrić now patrols a deeper role, Vidović's technical ability, poetic dribbling, vision and eye for goal do draw similarities to that of a younger Modrić that played further up the pitch. When you consider Vidović's prowess in front of goal for Bayern's second string - and ability to play anywhere from a six to a 10 - it also make sense that his other inspirations find the back of the net more regularly than Modrić.

"Messi and Neymar," he said of his more global muses, although the youngster's admiration for them will never reach the same height as the regard he holds Modrić in. "However, although they are world stars, they are still behind Modrić."

Did you know?

Gabriel's father, Zoran, was his first coach and Vidović Sr. made Bayern wait until his own tutelage was finished before the club could sign his son.

"I started playing football as a child, because my dad also coached football, so I went to training with him. I loved it. I went to the club for the first time when I was six years old," said Vidović Jr in the same interview with Tportal.hr.

"[Bayern's first contact was] when I was nine, 10-years-old. They called me back then, but I was still too young, so I stayed in Augsburg. After that, they called me two more times, so Dad said when I was 12 and a half: 'Obviously they really want you when they call for the third time.' So then I became a Bayern player."

What they're saying

"Gabriel Vidović has a lot of talent, he's a fine player, technically adept and intelligent. He can be deployed flexibly in various attacking positions up front and also in attacking midfield." - Mainz board member for sport Christian Heidel

"Gabriel joined Bayern at the age of 12 and has continued to develop at a high level, first at our FC Bayern Campus and then on his first loan spells in the professional ranks at Vitesse Arnhem and Dinamo Zagreb. In recent weeks, Gabi has once again performed very well in our pre-season preparations and is now set to take the next steps at Mainz. We will continue to support him very closely on his way." - Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund