Despite offers from Hertha BSC Berlin and Borussia Dortmund, 1. FC Köln snapped up Milislav Popovic from Regionalliga Nord side TSV Havelse. The 18-year-old youngster signed a contract until June 2018 in the cathedral city.
The Australian will play for the under-19 in the A-Junioren-Bundesliga initially, and will get a place at the physical education college in Cologne.
Big step forward
Milislav Popovic moved last summer from Blacktown City FC to TSV Havelse, in North Germany, close to Hannover.
For Havelse's U19, who are playing in the A-Junioren-Bundesliga, he scored ten goals in 14 matches and, through these performances, got his debut in Regionalliga Nord and has already played there four times.
Matthias Limbach, sporting director of Havelse's U19, said that, "Havelse is disappointed to sell this talent but, as an education club, that's our philosophy - to develop players and offer them a good springboard."
"A perfect first step"
For the talent, it is a big step to move from a Regionalliga team to a Bundesliga team and he admitted Havelse was the "perfect first step" for him in the German football and he will hold his teammates in "grateful memory".
Popovic is the second transfer during the Winter Break for Cologne. The Billy Goats already signed a back-up for German international Jonas Hector; the 24-year-old Filip Mladenovic joined from BATE Borisov.
Difficult times for talents
Recently, talents that have played for the effzeh have gone through a difficult time and examples like Kazuki Nagasawa and Lucas Cueto are evidence of this.
Nagasawa joined 1. FC Köln in Winter 2014 from Senshu Univ and returned to Japan a year later, after he signed a contract at Urawa Reds.
Lucas Cueto, on the other hand, flew with the first team to Orlando last winter to complete the preparation for the second half of the season there. Now, his contract will not be extended and it may be that the 19-year-old attacker will leave before the summer.