22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RB Leipzig lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
RB Leipzig asked and Bayern Munich said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Castello Lukeba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at RB Leipzig will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. RB Leipzig lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
$28.6M was the most the club would pay and Bayer Leverkusen were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The offer from Bayern Munich for Christoph Baumgartner was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Nobody at RB Leipzig will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. RB Leipzig lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Willi Orbán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Max Finkgräfe is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Benjamin Schäfer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Maximilian Richter has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Matthias Krüger has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kevin Martin has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Nothing has been signed and nothing has been denied. Supporters who have lived through one of these before know the quiet part lasts months and the loud part lasts a week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Rocco Reitz
The words a physio says slowly. 60 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 15 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at RB Leipzig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eljif Elmas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Castello Lukeba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rômulo is on it.
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RB Leipzig lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Castello Lukeba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at RB Leipzig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eljif Elmas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at RB Leipzig can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say David Raum is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at RB Leipzig, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Castello Lukeba signs something — a contract at RB Leipzig or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 5 on 61 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RB Leipzig lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ezechiel Banzuzi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RB Leipzig can pretend not to have heard.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jobe Bellingham has, at RB Leipzig, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonio Nusa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Still no offer on the table, and Eljif Elmas’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. RB Leipzig lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The chase for Ameen Al-Dakhil ended with $8.1M changing hands and VfB Stuttgart out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ameen Al-Dakhil has just signed for RB Leipzig, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Castello Lukeba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
28 appearances and 5 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The offer went to VfB Stuttgart this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. RB Leipzig have done the hard part with VfL Wolfsburg, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Willi Orbán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at RB Leipzig will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RB Leipzig lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Willi Orbán and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
RB Leipzig asked and Fenerbahce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say David Raum is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Castello Lukeba signs something — a contract at RB Leipzig or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luca Jaquez is living that version at RB Leipzig, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at RB Leipzig heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A season-long audition: VfB Stuttgart still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are RB Leipzig's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. RB Leipzig know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at RB Leipzig. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. RB Leipzig lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at RB Leipzig heard it as anything else.
The deal with VfB Stuttgart is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Willi Orbán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
RB Leipzig asked and Köln said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at RB Leipzig can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Christopher Nkunku is on it.
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RB Leipzig lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. RB Leipzig will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Castello Lukeba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at RB Leipzig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christopher Nkunku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at RB Leipzig will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Castello Lukeba signs something — a contract at RB Leipzig or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 5, 61 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Christoph Baumgartner’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Christopher Nkunku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Willi Orbán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. RB Leipzig know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at RB Leipzig. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Christopher Nkunku’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Squad17 May 2027
Willi Orbán is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
Castello Lukeba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at RB Leipzig can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at RB Leipzig will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason RB Leipzig will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Castello Lukeba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christopher Nkunku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alexis Corona has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Nobody at RB Leipzig will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. RB Leipzig told Patrick Wimmer something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at RB Leipzig, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Christopher Nkunku and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Willi Orbán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at RB Leipzig will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Castello Lukeba signs something — a contract at RB Leipzig or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 5, 61 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. RB Leipzig will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 61 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
A mark of 7.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Willi Orbán and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christopher Nkunku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Antonio Nusa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.47 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. RB Leipzig will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Castello Lukeba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
Nobody left the RB Leipzig dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Johan Bakayoko will call it something else in private.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason RB Leipzig will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at RB Leipzig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Willi Orbán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and RB Leipzig know it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.06, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
1 for Neil El Aynaoui, marked 7.75, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christopher Nkunku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
With 8 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marc Guiu commits to RB Leipzig for another 5 years.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Willi Orbán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; RB Leipzig are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Christopher Nkunku is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at RB Leipzig, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Christoph Sauer was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the RB Leipzig dressing room was either.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Antonio Nusa, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Three points for RB Leipzig, 3‑1 the final word against Union Berlin in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Rômulo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.79. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Matthias Berger has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jonas Winter has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Willi Orbán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. RB Leipzig know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Marked 9.84 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at RB Leipzig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christopher Nkunku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Antonio Nusa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Christopher Nkunku and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Willi Orbán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at RB Leipzig will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Christoph Sauer was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the RB Leipzig dressing room was either.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Borussia Dortmund defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at RB Leipzig hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; RB Leipzig are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Christoph Sauer left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Rocco Reitz
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Rômulo
28Edition
The RB Leipzig Courier
8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Antonio Nusa, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at RB Leipzig hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Benjamin Henrichs and RB Leipzig agree another 3 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at RB Leipzig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christopher Nkunku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Michael Pohl is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ralf Krause is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
7.54, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Patrick Wimmer has just signed for RB Leipzig, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
RB Leipzig close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The offer from Bayer Leverkusen for Max Finkgräfe was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at RB Leipzig hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
RB Leipzig have gone to TSG Hoffenheim with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. RB Leipzig scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Antonio Nusa did not need any: 8.30, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Antonio Nusa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Borussia Mönchengladbach paid $7.9M and RB Leipzig took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The offer from Borussia Mönchengladbach for Maxime Estève was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Castello Lukeba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The phone has started ringing about Marc Guiu again, and this time the name on the line is Heidenheim. RB Leipzig are listening politely and promising nothing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Christoph Sauer after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $22.1M has been paid because Alexis Corona is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. RB Leipzig have paid $6.9M for Stefan Drljača, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alexis Corona has just signed for RB Leipzig, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Assan Ouédraogo again, and this time the name on the line is Mainz 05. RB Leipzig are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad11 Jan 2027
David Raum falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have shaken hands with Veracruz; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
$16.6M on the table at VfB Stuttgart. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$6.9M on the table at VfB Stuttgart. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer from Borussia Dortmund for Johan Bakayoko was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Willi Orbán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christopher Nkunku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Christopher Nkunku and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Dec 2026
David Raum falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Christoph Sauer after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Johan Bakayoko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Willi Orbán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Marked 8.40 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.23 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The first defeat in 14 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Bayern Munich; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Castello Lukeba and RB Leipzig agree another 5 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christopher Nkunku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gabriel Schröder has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at RB Leipzig hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Christopher Nkunku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Willi Orbán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Christopher Nkunku is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Christopher Nkunku and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Raum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; RB Leipzig are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RB Leipzig can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Willi Orbán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at RB Leipzig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christopher Nkunku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. RB Leipzig scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Willi Orbán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 7 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Christopher Nkunku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Paul Hahn is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rocco Reitz, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Christoph Sauer was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the RB Leipzig dressing room was either.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” RB Leipzig have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at RB Leipzig heard it as anything else.
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at RB Leipzig, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” RB Leipzig have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Willi Orbán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 94. Borussia Dortmund had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It needed Christopher Nkunku to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Borussia Dortmund, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Neil El Aynaoui scored, was marked 7.82, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at RB Leipzig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Willi Orbán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Willi Orbán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at RB Leipzig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christopher Nkunku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ota Yamamoto has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hans Schwarz has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Klaus Simon has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Christopher Nkunku and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Willi Orbán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then SC Freiburg scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and RB Leipzig know it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RB Leipzig can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Antonio Nusa did not need any: 8.33, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Sep 2026
David Raum falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.38 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at RB Leipzig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christopher Nkunku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Brajan Gruda has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Brajan Gruda. 1‑0 against VfB Stuttgart, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Christoph Sauer kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation RB Leipzig are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jobe Bellingham has, at RB Leipzig, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Willi Orbán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christoph Baumgartner signs something — a contract at RB Leipzig or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
RB Leipzig asked and Borussia Dortmund said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at RB Leipzig until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The deal that would have taken Lukas Klostermann to VfL Wolfsburg has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to RB Leipzig with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Christopher Nkunku and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Willi Orbán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
6 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Christoph Sauer left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Castello Lukeba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A 1‑0 win over Bayer Leverkusen, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
$70.1M was the most the club would pay and Barcelona were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
RB Leipzig asked and Villarreal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at RB Leipzig, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RB Leipzig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Youte has just signed for RB Leipzig, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at RB Leipzig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Willi Orbán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation RB Leipzig are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The offer went to Barcelona this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and RB Leipzig go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Daniel Elfadli has, at RB Leipzig, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Christopher Nkunku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at RB Leipzig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Raum is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Hamburger SV have accepted the money. What RB Leipzig do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
RB Leipzig asked and Liverpool said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer went to Hamburger SV this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer from TSG Hoffenheim for Rômulo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
$8.4M on the table at Bayern Munich. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Christoph Baumgartner and RB Leipzig agree another 5 years.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kacper Potulski is living that version at RB Leipzig, and it tends to show in the first month.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at RB Leipzig, and it is not being withdrawn.
259 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Rômulo wants continental football; whether RB Leipzig can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.