OVERVIEW
So, I figured instead of clogging up multiple other threads with my Energy Drink FC weekly updates I'll just shove them all into one thread for anyone (read: no one) interested in the current state of play for East Germany's best and youngest football team. An impressive 3rd place finish (should have been second really) built on a stingy as balls defense ensured another season in the Champion's League but we shall not be discussing the walloping we received in the cup final to FC Lewandowski.
As the 2019/20 season approaches there will be a new look within the structure of RBL and it will be interesting to see if this purported "dream team" Mintzlaff (CEO) has worked so hard to assemble can build on an impressive first 3 years in Das SPL. Out goes papa Ralf from the dugout to the boardroom... then out goes papa Ralf from the boardroom to the upper echelons of Red Bull's footballing directive. So, who's in? Well German wunderkind coach Julian Nagelsmann from Hoffenheim (sniff it Bayern) was secured last Summer as well as incoming sporting director Markus Krosche after some impressive work down at Paderborn. I've created a simple table for anyone that struggles reading through a paragraph.
| Manager | Julian Nagelsmann | Julian Nagelsmann | |
| Sporting Director | Markus Krosche | ||
| God | Ralf Rangnick | Ralf Rangnick | Ralf Rangnick |
TRANSFERS
Okay so that's the boring part out of the way... onto the only thing football fans actually give a crap about - TRANSFERS. As is the way of most of RBL's windows it's all about the Zat-approved youngsters and milking the Red Bull system like the cheating whore we really are: Amadou Haidara & Tyler Adams already poached in January from Red Bull's feeder teams for a sum of £20m which was swiftly followed by news of pre-contract deals set up for Hannes Wolf (RB Salzburg) and Luan Candido (Palmeiras) to arrive in the Summer. Since then there's been the addition of versatile attacker Christopher Nkunku (PSG) and a loan deal for Wales' answer to Bob Marley: Ethan Ampadu. Media are continuing to link that little rat Ademola Lookman with a move back to the Red Bull Arena so we shall see how that one (inevitably) concludes. Outs you say? Well a couple of crap keepers were sold, Emile Smith-Rowe's loan came to a close (what a pointless adventure that turned out to be) and the talented-but-not-quite-talented-enough Bruma was also shifted off to Ajax that may pave a way for David Neres to move elsewhere? Maybe a little home by the Mersey? Aside from that there's been little in the press but you can imagine if Werner is sold they'll possibly go looking for strikers having previously been linked with forwards like Joelinton, Tammy Abraham and Callum Hudson-Odoi. Or they just raid Salzburg yet again for one of their coveted youngsters.
Oh and there's also the issue of that contract-running-down-chode Timo Werner who has been given a deadline of the start of the season to either sign a new deal or spend the season wallowing in the reserves as it doesn't seem like Bayern or Liverpool fancy stumping up the cash for him this Summer and are waiting to snap him up for a free in 2020. Personally think he's a tiny bit one-dimensional but won't be complaining if he decides to stick around for another crack in the Champion's League.
The squad is absolutely stacked at the minute, happy days, but it's quite difficult to project a "best" XI when everyone is fit and firing but I'll shove everyone where I personally think they'll be getting most of their minutes and you at least get an idea of how to set them up on FIFA for all you career mode junkies out there.
(Work have blocked all the line-up creators so will update this bit tonight)
PRE-SEASON
So we're only two games into pre-season which started with a bit of a shellacking vs FC Zurich (4-1) followed by an incredibly feisty win over Galatasary (3-2) on Saturday just gone. So far the team are obviously trying to get to grips with Nagelsmann's desires but at least papa Ralf began to prepare them last season with plenty of run outs using a back three formation. It's appeared from the two matches so far that we'll probably be lining up in a 3-4-1-2 formation but as Julian preferred a 3-3-2-2 at Hoffenheim this could just be utilising the personnel on offer as injury and international adventures have left a very thin squad so far. So far there have been senior call ups and minutes to Leipzig juniors: Tim Schrieber, Eric Martel, Tom Krauss, Frederik Jakel, Mads Bidstrup, Joshua Wosz and Fabrice Hartmann. It's been discussed that one of the main failures for RBL so far has been not producing an academy player that's gone on to integrate into the senior side on a full time basis and has become a priority remit under Nagelsmann's tenure. There have been some decent performances and some not-so-decent performances but that's par for the course during pre-season. 45 mins for Nkunku on Saturday showed a willingness to beat a man, to create & to keep the press up whilst Candido got a full 90 and looks a brilliant rangy prospect at LB/LM. The oft linked Jean-Kevin Augustin also got on the scoresheet so it remains to be seen whether he features in Nagelsmann's plans or not but he's looking sharp and personally wouldn't want to lose him.
Further fixtures to come are a game vs Rennes on Friday followed by Aston Villa the following weekend to roll into the opening official fixture of the season which is a DFB Cup 1st Round tie away to Vfl Osnabruck.
For anyone interested/bored (again, read: no one) here are the full recorded pre-season ties against Zurich and Galatasary that were streamed live on RB Leipzig's YouTube channel:
FC Zurich:
Galatasary:
