Former Bentleigh Greens junior Christian Theoharous has taken a giant leap in his football career by signing a deal to join German Bundesliga club Borussia Moenchengladbach.

The announcement of the Bundesliga move follows transfer speculation to Europe which surrounded Theoharous towards the end of the season. Both Gladbach and Fortuna Dusseldorf were mentioned as possible destinations. Last Saturday morning Moenchengladbach confirmed the signing. It’s been reported that  Theoharous will begin his German playing career at Gladbach’s under-23 side in Regionalliga West.

Gladbach’s director of youth development Roland Virkus said “Christian Theoharous is a promising player. We are delighted that he has chosen Borussia.”

The 18 year old winger has just completed a break-out season at Melbourne Victory where he made 18 league appearances and six AFC Champions League appearances. His eye-catching performances for Victory also earned him a call up to the national U20 team for which he appeared twice. Only an injury sustained in Victory’s epic semi- final win over Sydney FC, prevented Theoharous taking his place in Victory’s Grand Final winning team which would have been the icing on the cake of a memorable season for the talented teenager.

His move continues the trend of talented young Australian grown players who opt to make the move to an overseas league early in their careers rather than staying in the A-League to build their professional careers.

Theoharous is the third talented Victory teen to be snapped up by overseas clubs in recent years. He follows Jason Geria who moved to the Japanese second division in early 2018, and Seb Pasquali who moved to Ajax Youth in 2016. Theoharous’s move to Gladbach will precede the move of another talented A-League teen in Perth Glory’s Jacob Italiano who has signed a pre-contract with the German club but won’t join before he turns 18 in 2019.