Football Season Guide

Every season for RB Leipzig has felt like their most important as they continuously break new ground in their meteoric rise to the top of German football. Last season saw Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side play in their first ever Bundesliga campaign and this year Leipzig are in the Champions League for the first time. This will of course provide challenges for the squad which the majority of players and coaching staff have yet to deal with and their participation in three competitions will push the squad to its very limits. Even before the start of the season, Leipzig have been involved in the headlines with the news that one of their most prized assets, Naby Keita, was a target for sides in the Premier League leading to a training ground bust-up with a team-mate. With Emil Forsberg also on the wishlist of some larger sides, there are certainly some shadows cast over the start of the campaign and question marks as to the mentality of a few members of the squad as the season begins. On paper Leipzig remain very strong. Keita and Forsberg were two of the top performers in the squad last season along with Timo Werner and Marcel Sabitzer who complete an attacking quartet which plundered 45 league goals between them last season, 21 of which were Werner’s. Ingoings and outgoings have been kept to a minimum this season with the only significant departures from the first team being Devie Selkie and Rani Khedira, neither of whom were important members of the squad. In their places the club has kept their ethos of buying talented young players as Jean-Kevin Augustin, Konrad Laimer, Ibrahima Traore and Bruma are all 20 or younger. They will likely be used as rotation options in the league to support the main squad. That of course leads to the two big questions facing Leipzig this season: Will the squad be able to handle their increased workload and will their new players end up becoming regulars if current squad members are poached by larger sides? Only time will tell.