Still without a professional appearance at FCB
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The figureheads of the Bayern campus this season are likely to be Lennart Karl and Wisdom Mike. In their shadow are other talents from Munich’s youth ranks, such as Felipe Chávez, who made his debut for the Peruvian national team during the international break. Transfermarkt took a closer look at the 18-year-old midfielder, who is not yet a professional player.
Chávez came to the record champions from FC Augsburg at the age of twelve and has since played through various youth teams. Last season he impressed with good performances in the U19 team – including a goal and five assists in the 6-0 win against Ingolstadt. He was promoted to the Munich second team for the half series, but still caused a sensation in the final round of the U19 championship. In the 4-2 quarter-final against BVB he was the match winner with two goals, and in the semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen he was involved in two goals.
This season he is one of the regulars in the second team in the Bavarian Regional League. In eight games he has one goal and two assists, and he also scored two goals for the U19s in the Youth League. He has so far been denied a chance to play for the professionals. “So far, Chávez has mainly played in the youth ranks and regularly with the amateurs. In contrast to some other young players, he has not yet been regularly in the professional circle – for example training, training camps or even test games. Likewise, there has never been any question of a loan, at least publicly, which is also a regular practice at Bayern,” explains Bayern expert and TM user “Teec3”.
Chávez, who made his amateur debut in October 2024 at the age of 17, can play both central and attacking midfield positions. “Chávez is a very creative, technically skilled player with a good passing game and good shooting technique. He has very good abilities,” says “Teec3”. “There is room for improvement when it comes to the typical age-related attributes of physicality, decision-making, consistency – but that’s all within reason. His further positioning in the game will be interesting. He is already relatively far in the attacking midfield, but if he moves towards central midfield in the long term, his defensive play will have to be significantly better.” His contract in Munich runs until 2027 and the competition is particularly fierce with Joshua Kimmich, Aleksandar Pavlovic, Tom Bischof and Leon Goretzka.
Chávez made his debut for Peru: “There were great expectations for him”
Chávez was born in Aichach near Augsburg, but also has Peruvian citizenship due to his father. National coach Manuel Barreto took advantage of this and nominated him for the international match against Chile (1:2) in October. He had previously played for Peru’s junior teams. In the 78th minute, Chávez came on as a substitute for Jairo Concha and wore the Peru jersey for the first time. Since it was only a test match, it does not count towards the criteria for a firm decision in favor of the association and he could also play for Germany.
The fact that Chávez made his debut for Peru without playing professionally is not an isolated case, as Gerson Romero, Area Manager Peru at Transfermarkt, explains: “Chávez plays in the second team of one of the best teams in the world. His case is similar to that of Carlos Zambrano and Paolo Guerrero, who also made their first appearances for Peru without playing a role for their professional teams.” The 84-time national player Zambrano made his debut in 2008 at the age of 18 and at that time only gained experience in Schalke’s U19. After scoring 21 goals in 24 games in the regional league, Guerrero was there for the Bayern reserves for the first time in October 2004 – at that time he only made one short appearance in the DFB Cup. He appeared 129 times for Peru.
After the 100-time international Christian Cueva ended his national team career after the Copa América in the summer, Peru is looking for an attacking midfielder. “Due to the lack of playmakers, Chávez appears to be an option and is particularly exciting given his training in Germany. He is definitely one of the most promising Peruvian talents at the moment and, in my opinion, the most important young player. There are great expectations for him in Peru, as the poor performances of the last few years have created a significant gap between the national team and the fans,” explains Romero.
Nevertheless, the Peru expert warns that there was a comparable case in the past. “There are concerns because he is still not in the first team squad. That’s why parallels are being drawn with Cristian Benavente, who played in the same position and was trained at Real Madrid but never made the breakthrough for Peru.” Benavente made just 19 appearances for Peru between 2013 and 2019 after making his debut at the age of 18. “In general, however, expectations are very positive and we really hope that everything goes well for Chávez and his career.”
Peru finished ninth in the World Cup qualification in South America and therefore missed the tournament in the USA, Mexico and Canada. “The Peruvian national team is currently in a state of upheaval. Peru has one of the worst World Cup qualifications in history. With the penultimate place, they missed out on participation in the 2026 World Cup and thus marked the end of the generation that took part in the 2018 World Cup,” says Romero, describing the situation surrounding the selection. However, with Chávez he hopes for a much better future.