BERLIN (Reuters) – RB Leipzig are eager to add to their trophy collection this season but the club’s philosophy will continue to be about developing top young talent and selling them on, managing director for sport Marcel Schaefer said.
Leipzig, who are competing in the Champions League for a sixth straight season, saw Spain international Dani Olmo join Barcelona for a fee of over 50 million euros ($55.44 million), the move underlining the club’s reputation for developing young players.
In previous seasons the Saxony club saw other young players leave to join some of the continent’s biggest clubs, including Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City), Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool) and Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea).
“It is our philosophy to support young, talented players and bring them to next level and sell them,” Schaefer told a media roundtable this week.
“We want to bring the club to the focus of top, top talents and have them here in Leipzig. The players want to come to Leipzig because they see the potential for young, top talents.
“Six years in a row we play in Champions League with a very young team,” he added.
Leipzig, who won back-to-back German Cups in 2022 and 2023, did manage to hold on to Dutch international Xavi Simons, who is 21 and a major transfer target for top clubs.
They also extended the contract of 21-year-old Slovenia international Benjamin Sesko.
Leipzig have enjoyed a good start to the season with three wins in three games across all competitions, including victory at Bayer Leverkusen that handed the champions a first league defeat in over a season.
“We can reach more but it is always a good start and base to discuss the things we have to improve,” said Schaefer, who took over this season after a long stint as player and then sports director at VfL Wolfsburg.
“We are all athletes and we want to reach the maximum because I think we have the possibility to reach maximum. We want to compete for the titles in all competitions this season.”
Leipzig, who host Union Berlin on Saturday, kick off their Champions League campaign against Atletico Madrid next week.
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(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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