Last season, Red Bull Leipzig finished 2nd in the Bundesliga, however, they were 13 points behind the Champions, Bayern Munich. Despite this good season, it’s going to be a tough 2021/22 season for Leipzig, having already lost their manager Julian Nagelsmann and Dayot Upamecano to Bayern Munich, and Ibrahima Konate to Liverpool.
From the two player sales, Leipzig received £38 million for Upamecano and £36 million for Konate. One thing Leipzig are praised for is how they turn players like these into stars for a small fee. Konate was picked up on a free from FC Sochaux in France, with Upamecano being bought for around £16 million from affiliate club Red Bull Salzburg, after they bought the 22-year-old from FC Valenciennes for £2 million.
Since the sale of these two central defenders, they have been a variety of reports linking Leipzig to young, up and coming defenders. This week, the transfer talk has been about Wolfsburg center back, Maxence Lacroix being one target to replace Konate and Upamecano.
Despite the recent sales, Leipzig still have some center backs at the club. Lukas Klostermann and Willi Orban are still both at the club, but if a reasonable fee comes in, Jesse Marsch make look at selling them as well.
However, Leipzig have already made some early signings to fill in the needed positions for next season. The majority of these have been across the defense, but their have been a few which are elsewhere on the pitch. Here is a look at some of the new Leipzig players.
Luan Candido
The one that’s the least unknown out of the list of players, Candido is a young Brazilian left back who signed for Red Bull from Palmeiras in the Summer of 2019. Since his move to Germany, he hasn’t made a first team appearance, while only making three for the U19’s. In January of 2020, he moved to affiliate club, Red Bull Bragantino. While at Bragantino, he made 22 appearances, were he scored one goal and helped keep two clean sheets in eight games this year.
An interesting outcome of Candido’s loan back to Brazil was he showed he has the qualities to play as a defensive midfielder. He featured as a left back through-out the campaign, and impressed in both positions. It’s likely that Leipzig will send him back on loan next season, as he still has a lot to learn to develop his game, but it won’t be long before the young Brazilian will be a starter for the Bundesliga club.
Josko Gvardiol
Leipzig agreed to sign the young Croatian center back halfway through the season, and the young center back has a lot of support, as people believe he’s a star in the making. They made a deal with Dinamo Zagreb, and reached a deal at around £16.8 million. He made 41 appearances for Zagreb this season, were he scored three goals, and also got himself three assists. He also helped Zagreb keep 20 clean sheets in the games he featured in, while also helping Zagreb lift the Croatian League.
He is a left footed center back and has many key attributes. He is very strong in the air and has great positioning for a defender. Combine this with his pace, it’s easy to see why Leipzig wanted to secure this signing so early on. Marsch may decide to loan him elsewhere with him only being 19, but Gvardiol has the qualities to be playing for Leipzig, and could become yet another big success for Red Bull.
Mohamed Simakan
Just like Gvardiol, Leipzig completed the signing of this young French defender before the season finished. Simakan signed for Leipzig from Strasbourg for around £13 million. Strasbourg finished 15th in the Ligue 1, but Simakan was one of the shinning stars, despite the club’s poor season. The youngster made 19 appearances this season were he scored one goal and got himself one assist. In those 19 games he also helped keep six clean sheets.
Just like Gvardiol, the Frenchmen has great aerial ability, and has above average pace and sprint speed for a defender. He also has the ability to play the ball out of the box, along with his coordinated balance. Simakan will more than likely be the starting center back for Leipzig next season, but time will tell whether he will start the season with Gvardiol or if they will invest in a center back partner.
Brian Brobbey
After Timo Werner’s departure to Chelsea last summer, Leipzig brought in Alexander Sorloth and Hwang Hee-Chan to replace him, however neither have lived up to the German’s numbers and the latter is likely on his way out of Red Bull Arena this summer. Despite not having as much experience as Sorloth or Hee-Chan, Leipzig believe Brian Brobbey can be the man. They signed the forward from Ajax for free after his contract expired.
He is an extremely talented goalscorer, having an excellent record at youth level and in 36 appearances he scored 15 assists and got 6 assists. He has the ability to finish anything inside the box, but he also very important to the teams build up play, and when Leipzig have similar players like Christopher Nkunku playing up top at times, it shows that Brobbey will be involved in a lot of the play. It’s possible he could go out on loan, but he definitely has a chance to show Marsch his qualities next season.
Although Leipzig have a tough season next season, losing a lot of key staff and players who have been part of the squad for years, they have already began the rebuild.
These early signings and the potential they have shows the direction that Leipzig are know following. There will likely be more transfer news through-out the window concerning Leipzig, but they have made a great start as they prepare for next season.
“Red Bull Leipzig Arena” by jrockdrigo is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
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Final Whistle 