Once rejected, now key: six late bloomers who could shine at

From Germany’s Robert Andrich to Álex Grimaldo of Spain, we look at six players whose journeys to the top have been far from straightforward

To put things into context, Andrich is a year younger than Julian Draxler, who was part of Germany’s World Cup-winning squad a decade ago. At the time, Andrich was playing for Hertha Berlin reserves, and in 2016 he rarely got minutes for Dynamo Dresden in the 3.Liga. After successful spells at Wehen and Heidenheim, the combative central midfielder finally made his Bundesliga debut for Union Berlin aged 25, but even then nobody could have imagined he would develop into a top-class performer.