Interview with Leipzig boss Marcel Schäfer: "Everybody must find a solution" to the Premier League

€195m earned 

It has been an incredibly busy transfer summer for RB Leipzig. After missing out on European football for the first time since managing promotion to the Bundesliga ahead of the 2016/17 season, Leipzig have spent €136 million on new players and earned €195 million—the fifth most of all clubs in Europe this summer—by selling 13 players. Altogether, the club made a profit of €59m; only 11 clubs generated more this summer. Transfermarkt caught up with RB Leipzig’s sporting director, Marcel Schäfer, to chat about what has been a busy transfer summer for the club and discuss the impact of Premier League money on the Bundesliga.

A big part of that money came from the English Premier League. Leipzig earned €76.5 million from selling Benjamin Sesko to Manchester United and €65m from selling Xavi Simons to Tottenham. Both deals can grow substantially through add-ons. In Sesko’s case, the club can secure up to €85m, and Xavi can bring in an additional €5m through easy-to-reach add-ons. “It is a good way to do it, to sell players to England, right?” Schäfer said. “We sold our two best players to England. So that confirms our philosophy in developing young players. But it is also tough to compete with the Premier League, and not just with the top clubs, but also with clubs that get promoted. Some of them spend more than the entire Bundesliga.”

That’s not quite right. But Sunderland (tenth), Burnley (21st), and Leeds United (27th) do rank among the highest spenders in European football. Collectively, they have spent more than €400m on new players this summer. In comparison, the entire Bundesliga has spent €890m on new signings this summer. That’s, of course, significantly less than the €3.6bn the Premier League spent on new players this summer. “That’s the competition, that’s the market,” Schäfer said when confronted with those numbers. “Everybody must find solutions for it and find a way to make the most out of the situation. We want to remain authentic, and for Red Bull, this means we try to focus on young, hungry, high-potential players.”

€136m spent – RB Leipzig hope investment in young stars will pay off

Those high-potential players aren’t exactly cheap either. While Leipzig were among the top earners this summer, the club also ranks 18th among European clubs with the highest expenditures—ahead of two of the three promoted Premier League clubs. The club brought in eight signings with an average age of just 20.63. One of those players, Arthur Vermeeren, has since been loaned to Olympique Marseille. The other seven signings read like a who’s who list of Football Manager wonderkinds. Leipzig added Conrad Harder (Sporting), Rômulo (Göztepe), Yan Diomande (Leganés), Johan Bakayoko (PSV), Ezechiel Banzuzi (Leuven), Andrija Maksimovic (Crvena zvezda), and Max Finkgräfe (Köln).

"We lost a little bit of our DNA," Schäfer said when asked about the new signings. "So, the profile we looked for was definitely young, hungry, and high potential. We're looking for a team that plays high intensity with the ball, but especially a high intensity against the ball. And, of course, you need some skills for that; you also need the right mentality for it. That for us was the main target. We want to see Red Bull football again." Those players certainly fit the profile, especially the forwards Maksimović, Diomande, Bakayoko, and Rômulo. With the exception of Bakayoko, who has been linked to several clubs over the last few transfer windows before finally settling on a move to Leipzig, and Norwegian star Harder, the new attacking players are still relatively unknown.

“We look for players with strong physical ability, who can handle one-on-one situations and who can create and finish chances.” How do Leipzig find and identify those players? “We watch a lot of videos,” Schäfer said. “The football world is big, but it is also small at the same time. Video and data help us identify players. Then there is also the usual live scouting. However, we also consider factors such as social media to ensure a player is a 100% match for our club and our city. We discuss everything, and then we decide with full conviction.” It is a strategy that has worked for Leipzig in the past, but as the club stands at a crossroads, it remains to be seen whether it will continue to work in the future.