Future star

Estadio de Mestalla, the home of Valencia since 1923, beams out conspicuously from brown residential blocks in the center of the Spanish coastal city. It doesn't quite seem to conform to the surroundings. The grey concrete only recently got a makeover before the club prepares for a prolonged move to a new home.

This is where Juan Bernat climbed the ladder to his dream profession. Signed up for the Valencia youth team at the age of seven, Bernat progressed continuously here, before being invited to join the first-team in the summer of 2011/12.

Under the management of Unai Emery, who took the decision to convert the youngster into a left-back, the Spaniard shone with some blinding performances. One standout match was the 5-0 win over Basel in the Europa League last season, a performance full of thrust and purpose, as the Spanish side overturned a 3-0 first leg defeat at the Mestalla.

For some time, Bernat waited in Jordi Alba's shadows at Valencia before Spain’s first choice left-back moved on to Barcelona in 2012. The youngster studiously looked up to Alba when they played together, but it didn’t take long for him to develop his own style.

"I've always been rather silent and reticent, and that goes for the dressing room too," Bernat said, when chatting to journalists at his new club Bayern, earlier this week. "But the minute I'm out on the pitch my shyness disappears and I emerge from my shell."

International success

Since those early days at Valencia, Bernat has been rewarded with a call-up for the Spanish national team where he notched up a goal on his debut in Luxembourg.

Especially now, as the sun begins to set on the heralded Spanish footballers of this generation, Bernat heads a group of prodigious new talents. They come from provincial academies in Valencia, Bilbao and elsewhere, and they are starting to change the face of Spanish football.

The monotonous recent showings of the Spanish team depicted a team slowly on the decline. Bernat, Rodrigo and Paco Alcacer of Valencia and Atletico Madrid's Koke are now providing a regenerated base for the national team.

Perfect for Pep

Tightly-packed at 1.72 meters in height, sturdy and squat in build, Bernat has an explosive change of pace. Had he continued his career as an attacking left-winger, the desired position in his younger days, he'd still be exceptional. As a left-back, running from deep positions, he can destroy even the most bullet-proof of defenses.

In the main, though, Bernat has excellent passing - the seventh highest pass completion figure in the league - fitting for a player who could seamlessly adapt into a central-midfielder at any point. This essentially is already his role at Bayern considering Guardiola's four-line formation with full-backs shuffling into the midfield zone.

"Pep has a special style of coaching," Bernat said on his arrival in Munich. "It is concerned, above all, with always and continuously improving when on the ball, so always training with the ball. I like that a lot."

One only has to look at the importance of Bernat’s idol Jordi Alba in the EURO 2012 final, as he penetrated the gaps with tireless running beyond the main forwards, to see how useful Bernat could be at Bayern this year.

In fact, what more could be said for Bernat that he displaced David Alaba from the defense, pushing the prodigious Austrian into midfield. With Alaba now out injured the time could have already come for Bernat to take on more responsibility in the middle of the pitch. He should be more than up to the task.