Failed Wonderkid #20- Benjamin Auer
- Andrew Cheam
- Aug 12, 2020
- 4 min read
Biodata
Full Name: Benjamin Auer
Nationality: German
Date of Birth: 11 January 1981
Position: Winger, Striker
Current Club: Retired
Current Market Price: -
Highest Market Price: 2.00mil Euro (Jun 2006)
Former Clubs:
1999- 2000 Karlsruher SC
2000- 2002 Borussia Monchengladbach
2002- 2006 Mainz 05
2006- 2008 VfL Bochum
2007 1. FC Kaiserslautern (loan)
2008- 2012 Alemannia Aachen
2015 FK Pirmasens
International Career:
None
Achievement:
None
Career
Being a football player at the top level is never an easy task, it requires a lot of aspects and factors such as talent, consistency and determination to determine the career of a football player. Therefore, having a great start at the beginning of the footballing youth career doesn’t necessarily mean that player will continue his early promises. There are some players who failed to impress in his latter career despite his bright start at the youth level and lower leagues. One of them is Benjamin Auer.
Auer came through the FSV Offenbach youth rank, where he joined at the age of 7. At the age of 15, he moved to Kaiserslautern where he stayed for another 4 years. After the 4 years stay in Kaiserslautern, Auer joined Karlsruher SC. His debut match was against Kickers Offenbach in the 2.Bundesliga, where he came off the substitute bench for the remaining 30 minutes. Auer also got his first goal as the senior player in a match against FC Koln eight months later. However, Karlsruher still got relegated from 2.Bundesliga at the end of the season.
Despite his team was relegated, Auer still got his chance to remain in the 2.Bundesliga when he signed for Borussia Monchengladbach. He got more involved in the senior team as he had appeared half of the matches in 2.Bundesliga in his first season in Borussia Monchengladbach, scoring twice in the process. Auer’s performance had earned him a spot in the Germany U20 squad for the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship, where he scored 5 goals in the competition, including a hat-trick against the Canada U21 side in the group stage. This performance had persuaded FourFourTwo to named him as one of the 100 brightest stars of future in 2001.
However, Auer’s playing time was limited once the club was promoted back to the Bundesliga. He was not even involved in most of the Bundesliga matchday squad and even played with the Borussia Monchengladbach youth team. Throughout the whole season, Auer only accumulated 307 minutes of league action. This is not good for the development of the young player like Auer. Despite the lack of playing time at the club level, Auer has carried his impressive form for the national team youth side. He even scored in his first-ever international game for Germany U21 against Northern Ireland U21 side. In his short period as a national youth team player, Auer had recorded 15 goals in 23 matches. This is a monstrous stats that could make any young football players' name to be presented under the limelight.
In order to get more game time, Auer had transferred to Mainz 05 that aimed for the promotion to Bundesliga for the first time in the club history for the 2002-2003 season under the guidance of Jurgen Klopp. Despite Mainz was not able to secure promotion, this is the true breakout season for Auer as he was heavily involved in the first-team action. He had scored 10 goals and registered 2 assists in 26 games played in the 2.Bundesliga. Fortunately, Auer finally helped Mainz 05 to secure promotion to Bundesliga with his 5 goals and 5 assists, where Mainz 05 finished third place in 2003-2004 league campaign.
Auer finally had his slight redemption in the Bundesliga as he scored 6 goals and 5 assists in the 2004-2005 Bundesliga season, which includes a man-of-the-match performance against VfL Bochum where he registered 1 goal and 2 assists in one single match. His performance had helped Mainz 05 to retain their Bundesliga status for one more season. Auer had up his game in the next season as he scored 9 goals and registered 3 assists in the 2005- 2006 season to once again helped Mainz 05 to escape relegation. His impressive performance had attracted the attention of several teams in the league and he joined VfL Bochum next season.
However, Auer doesn’t get his playing time in VfL Bochum as Fabio Junior and Theofanis Gekas are more preferred by Marcel Koller at that time. He was even loaned out to his former club Kaiserslautern for the remaining of the season. Auer was still played sparingly in Kaiserslautern and only registered 2 assists in all competition. His performance and playing time were significantly improved in his second season in Bochum as he scored 5 goals in all competition, including a brace in a match against Borussia Dortmund.
Auer joined 2.Bundesliga side Alemannia Aachen in 2008 in order to help this team to go for promotion. Auer’s responsible to carry Alemannia Aachen attacking line is heavy especially after the club losing Jan Schlaudraff and Vedad Ibisevic on the previous season. Eventually, Auer had not made his club disappoint as he recorded 28, 21 and 24 goal contributions in his first three seasons in Alemannia Aachen. He was even the top scorer of 2.Bundesliga in his first season in Alemannia Aachen. However, a string of poor performances had lead Alemannia Aachen to relegation. Auer also left the club after the relegation.
Auer took a two-and-a-half-year football hiatus since he left Alemannia Aachen. He returned to the football scene when he took a downward step and signed for Regionalliga Sudwest side FK Pirmasens. Auer had regained his goal-scoring instinct in the lower league. He had registered a total of 24 goals and 9 assists in all competition for FK Pirmasens. However, he still couldn’t manage to help FK Pirmasens to achieve promotion in each of the three seasons he stayed in the club despite his impressive performance throughout his whole career in that club. In the end, Auer announced his retirement after the end of 2016-2017 season at the age of 36.
Verdict
Disappointment Rate: 8.5/10. Unlike most of the failed wonderkids which his career was hampered by injuries or even bad transfer, Auer’s career is more likely to describe as he failed to perform consistently in the top league. Throughout his career, he can only perform in the lower division rather than in the top league. This type of career progression that he expected and the performances had made his early hype and promises looks unwise.
Comments