Bayern Munich recently confirmed the permanent sale of Grayson Dettoni to 2. Bundesliga team SV Darmstadt 98 through their official website. As per usual, the club did not reveal the transfer fee. Prior to the sale, American center back Dettoni had enjoyed a long spell in the Bayern academy. Arriving at Bayern in 2017 from 1859+1 Munich after having made the jump from America a couple of years prior, Dettoni rose through the youth ranks. He generally played a couple of years above his age and arrived
at the U-23s at 18.
Unfortunately, he has struggled to make the next step. An 18 month loan in January 2025 to fellow Red & Gold Football club Grasshopper Zürich did not go to plan and saw him banished to the U-23s with no first team minutes whatsoever. His loan was cut short after six months, partly due to the way things were going in Switzerland and partly due to a crisis at the center back position for the U-23s. But even back at the U-23s, Dettoni struggled to get real game time.
This led to yet another January loan (with an option to buy), this time to 2. Bundesliga promotion hopefuls SV Darmstadt 98. Again, Dettoni struggled to get game time and sometimes did not even make Darmstadt’s matchday squad. He finally made his debut for the club in May on the 32nd matchday of a 34-game league.
But clearly, Die Lillien see potential in the 20-year-old. Despite playing just 107 minutes in the six-month loan, Darmstadt triggered their option to buy and brought the BFW acquaintance over to the southwest of Germany.
Darmstadt’s official website captured these comments from their sporting director, Paul Fernie, which explain the club’s desire to keep Dettoni: “Grayson integrated quickly into the team, showed a great willingness to learn, and has already made visible progress in the past six months. His appearances against Karlsruhe and in Münster demonstrated that he can compete at the second division level. Therefore, it was clear to us that we wanted to keep Grayson. We thank FC Bayern for the excellent cooperation.”
Dettoni expressed his joy at remaining in Darmstadt: “I am very grateful for the trust the club has placed in me with this permanent contract and happy to continue playing for Darmstadt. I have felt incredibly comfortable at the club from day one and have learned a great deal in recent months. I am already looking forward to seeing my teammates again after the break and starting preparations for the new season.”
BFW Analysis
Please, Darmstadt, take good care of Dettoni. He is a great talent and he deserves to play every week, something he has not done for the past 18 months.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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