Will RB Leipzig become the next Borussia Dortmund?

RB Leipzig is a football team in the top tier German football league Bundesliga. The club is a newly formed entity, owned by Austrian private Company Red Bull GmBH. 

The club came into existence when the company acquired 99% of shares of the fifth-tier Oberliga side -SSV Markranstädt. The club was formed with the primary motive to compete in the top-tier Bundesliga and RB Leipzig has been a Bundesliga club since 2016. 

When the club was formed it looked like RB Leipzig is going to be just one of the other money-laden club owned by a very rich owner. But fortunately, the club has given more importance to developing young talents instead of going for multi-million dollar transfers.

The club has been wonderful in finding and developing young talents. Some of the biggest names in Germany were discovered by the club. 

Timo Werner, Joshua Kimmich, Lukas Klostermann, Marcel Sabtizer are all from this club. The club has excelled in finding young players. 

Importance of the Club

The current squad of the club tells a good story. Young players dominate the squad. Excellent scouting and identification of talents have allowed competing and giving a tough fight to the mighty Bayern. The average age of the squad is 23.8 years and the market value has soared above $600m.

The Cause of Concern

 After the club’s promotion in 2016, it was predicted that the club would become a real threat to the Meisterschale. But the team has not been able to break the dominance of Die Roten still now. The best performance Leipzig have given is to finish second in their second season in the top tier. 

The club just like Dortmund has suffered from a relatively unstable board and no fixed development policy. 

Though the Saxony-based club has been doing extremely well in the Bundesliga and European competitions too, their results have not been consistent enough. Also, the club has been reluctant to hold on their biggest talents. 

The policy of selling the club's big names has cost Dortmund expensively. Even after developing some of the best talents of the present generation, they have not really become the force they should have been. 

RB Leipzig seems to have become inclined towards this policy. The club's biggest prospect so far Timo Werner was allowed to leave the club just for $65m, though there wasn’t any offer from the great two of England currently. The club failed to convince Werner to stay. 

Given his goal-scoring prowess within a year or two, he should have got a better offer from what he has now and from a bigger club. This clearly shows the inability of the management to keep their talents within the club.

Also, the rumours of other names leaving are becoming more prominent. Dayot Upamecano and Marcel Sabtizer have been strongly linked to Manchester United. Also, Dani Olmo, Christopher Nkunku, and Emil Forsberg have been vaguely linked to the various clubs.

If the club really wants to be a force to reckon with, the management must ensure their players do not leave. The Board has both the money and ability to keep players. 

They must formulate enough policies so that the staff and the players are satisfied and agree to stay. Only then can the club really challenge Bayern Munich in their Bundesliga dominance and also perform well in European competitions. 

This season Bayern Munich will be extensively engaged in the Champions League. That gives the club an amazing opportunity to exploit the situation. 

The Red Bulls have a good squad with a gifted coach. They can look to add their first major trophy to their cabinet this year.