Introducing the squad of the Borussia Mönchengladbach academy team, which will face Kazakhstan’s best young players in the QJL All Star match today.
Goalkeepers: Maximilian Quante, Jannik Brinckmann.
Defenders: Joel Uwakhonye, Nils Peters, Niels Hagedorn, Luke Tenkanen, Rafael Karas, Charly Vanchaze, Maxim Lagos, Ozan Sulaksu.
Midfielders: Piet Sautner, Salih Yusa Canim, Ivan Caleta, Paul Ingenfeld, Felix Schlösser, Filip Cirovic, Lukas Andree, Paul Luka Zenz.
Forwards: Kenny Vestjens, Maximilian Donner, Johann Ngongang, Aldrin Asani.
Head Coach: Denis Hauswald. Assistant coaches — Christian Ziege and Nils Wüsten.
Despite their young age, many of these players have already earned a strong reputation in football circles. Here are some Borussia players worth taking a closer look at.
No. 9 Maximilian Donner: the forward watched by Buffon
Donner was born and raised in Germany, came through the Borussia academy and was even invited to training camps with Germany’s youth national teams – but chose Italy, the country of his roots.
And the decision paid off: he became the top scorer at a tournament organised by the Italian Football Federation, while Gianluigi Buffon himself watched him from the stands, with the legendary goalkeeper singling out the young forward. The Italian media are already calling Donner a “forward of the future” for the Azzurri, while he has scored against both Türkiye and Slovenia for Italy’s youth national teams. In Gladbach, he wears the No. 9 shirt – and that is not a promise for the future, but a reflection of his current status.
No. 7 Kenny Vestjens: the Dutchman who outshone talents from Barcelona and Bayern
One of four youngsters Gladbach signed from the Venlo academy in 2023. In the autumn of 2025, Vestjens caused a small sensation: at the prestigious Porsche Cup, featuring academies from Barcelona, Bayern, Salzburg and Stuttgart, he was named the tournament’s best player – even though Borussia themselves finished without a medal.
He has already attracted attention back home as well: Kenny was invited to assessment camps with the Netherlands youth national team. Within the club, he also received the Champions Trophy, an award recognising character and attitude.
No. 8 Salih Yusa Canim: a “goal machine”
The Foals’ latest recruit: this summer, the 15-year-old Turkish player joined Gladbach from the Duisburg academy, where he scored 19 goals for the U-16s last season. He has already made 13 appearances and scored three goals for Türkiye’s youth national team.
Canim could become a worthy successor to Wael Mohya, an academy graduate who recently broke into Borussia’s first team and thrilled the stadium with his fearless style of play. The match in Kazakhstan could be one of Canim’s first appearances in his new shirt.
No. 10 Ivan Caleta: the No. 10 taken from Dortmund
The No. 10 shirt always carries special responsibility, and the club has entrusted it to a player who, according to German insiders, was signed directly from the Borussia Dortmund academy in the summer of 2024.
Caleta is considered one of the most technically gifted players born in 2010 in the region: his play is analysed by scouting pages from Germany to Croatia, while compilations of his skills attract views across football social media.
No. 5 Luke Tenkanen: a Luxembourg passport, a German club
The most unusual background in the squad. Tenkanen was born in Luxembourg into a family with Finnish roots, came through local club Grevenmacher and has already represented Luxembourg at youth level – first with the U-15s and now the U-16s.
The central defender wearing No. 5 is a rare example of a player from a country with a population smaller than Almaty’s making his way into the academy of a Bundesliga club.
It is therefore fair to say that the team arriving in Kazakhstan regularly tests itself at international tournaments against some of Europe’s strongest academies.
