RB Leipzig Again

2014/15

League

For the best part of the season I was able to field my strongest XI however in November a couple of players wanted more game time and there was little difference in form until I gave Terence Boyd a run of games in the starting XI in February after he return from injury after he moaned about not playing but he showed why I was not selecting after he only scored 2 goals in 6games also before he got another injury for 6weeks. I decided to field my weakest team for the final game of the season to see if who is staying and leaving also this was the 2nd game we lost all season but the only one in the League. We would have still been promoted has champions even if we has lost 4 of the drawn games due to goal difference.

DFB-Pokal

A few upsets in the the 1st Round with Viktora 1889. I n every round were drawn against teams from the Bundesliga and lost to Dortmund which shows that there is a big gap between where we are currently and where we want to be.

Summer Transfers Part 1

I have been given around £25m to spend on players for next season after securing promotion which meant I could start to build my squad with advanced purchases. I sold Terence Boyd to Koln for £1.6m and Demme for £5m to Stuttgart. I am expecting bids for Kaiser and Damari in the summer but will only accept bids that would cover the cost of their replacements.

Jonathan Tah, Hamburg SV £6.5m

I signed Tah on my previous RB Leipzig save but a few seasons later however this time I decided to sign him for my first season in Bundesliga. I hope he can become my first choice centre half in a couple of seasons time when Compper and Rodnei have left the club.

Kristoffer Ajer, Start £975k

He is one of the first players I sign on almost every save I have done has he can be a decent central midfielder providing protection for the central defenders.

Mason Holgate Barnsley £1.3m

He was an absolute gem on my Fulham save alongside Maguire and Gomez. I think the Bundesliga might suit him more than the Premier League.

Nicola Leali, Junventus Free Transfer

He is going to be my first choice keeper and has the potential to be a world class keeper. Dahne is going to be solid back up keeper but I am looking a for a more experienced keeper to have in case both of them are out injured or have a huge drop in form.

Panagiotis Tactsidis, Verona Free Transfer

He is a direct replacement for Demme. He is a good all round midfielder and should easily adapt to the Bundesliga. I am hoping he and Khedira can form a partnership in central midfield in preseason to give us a the chance to finish above the relegation zone as minimum.

Virgil van Dijk, Celtic £6m

He is the player I am building my defence around and hopefully a long partnership with Tah in a couple of seasons. He has the quality to adapt to the Bundesliga very quickly and establish himself has the best central defender in the League.

I was completing the rest of the summer transfers while writing this post and started the season so I continued the 2015/16 season to the end. There are a few surprises at the end of the season.

2015/16 Season

Summer Transfers Part 2

Promotion to the Bundesliga opened up the transfer market for us and meant I could sign players which last season would have been out of reach. I had a bit of a spending spree this summer.

Alejandro Faurlin, Free Transfer

I felt needed some experience in the centre midfield area and was not looking at spending a lot on player that could be at the club for 2 or 3 seasons with no to little resale value. Faurlin is the type of player I was looking to be part of 2 or 3man midfield that will just sit in front of the defence.

Joe Gomez, Chartlon £1.6m

He fits how want to build this squad with young players with potential to be top players in the Bundesliga. Going to have him at the club this season with the idea of loaning him for a couple of seasons to get some first team experience before moving into the senior squad for the 18/19 season.

Lewis Cook, Leeds Utd £3.3m

I needed a central midfielder who will just sit in front of the defence providing cover and protection for the defence. I am looking to have him as a regular starter in either 16/17 or 17/18 season after settling into the club, tactics, the country etc.

Matias Pisano, Independiente £3m

I was looking for a central attacking midfielder that could replace Kaiser was sold. Pisano is excellent cover for Kaiser and now allows me to loan out Kalmer.

Phillip Max, Karlsruhe £3m

I needed a left back to provider cover and competition for Jung but part of his transfer deal was to be loaned back to his old club for the season.

Richairo Zivkovic, Ajax £8.5m

He is going to be my first choice striker in a season or two. I am going to try to experiment with having 2 strikers up front in any friendly games or against clubs in lower leagues in the DFB-Pokal by partnering him with Damari. He can be a good lone striker if he can improve his strength a bit to go with his pace and acceleration.

Preseason

This was not designed but the preseason friendlies do provide good preparation for the coming season. If we can match the results in these games across the season then we should be looking at a top 10 finish and a good run in the DFB-Pokal.

Bundesliga

The first 10 games left us with 5 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss which is a solid start to the first ever season in the Bundesliga. Zivkovic and Damari scoring goals quite regularly with Frahn showing that can he can play role within the squad after scoring 4 goals in 7 games in February and March which earned him a 3yr contract. We failed to score in 3 games but I am concerned about the number goals we concede sometimes late goals which have cost games and points. I thought we did quite well against the bigger teams in the League has I was expecting to be looking at heavy defeats especially the away games.

We finished 6th and got ourselves in the Europa League but the number of goals conceded saw us having the joint highest number of drawn games. We could have been in the top4 or 11th if it was not for the number of goals we scored. It is going to tough next season with Europa League and the how close it was from 3rd to 12th could see us near the relegation zone next season.

DFB-Pokal

In order to guarantee Europa League football and be at the group stage next season has I made this competition my top priority this season. I felt that we stood a good chance once FC Bayern was knocked out by Schalke. Freiburg had a great run despite their poor league form.

2016/17 Summer Transfers Part 1

Youri Tielemans, Anderlecht Free

I was looking at central midfielders for next season that had their contract ending at the end of June and he was one of them so I signed on him on a precontract. It looks like I might have a potentially decent group of young central midfielders at the club.

Asmir Begovic, Stoke Free

I needed an experience keeper has I have got 3 leaving this summer and have Europa League football. I did the same search for central midfielders and came across Begovic who fits the criteria I had for the keeper experience and little or no transfer fee because there will no resale value if I had spent £m’s on an experience keeper. I might use either Leali or Begovic in the League and the other in the Cup and European games next season.

Ciro Immobile, Dortmund £3.1m

Dortmund made a loss of around £11m on this transfer has they signed him for £14.5m. I signed in case Damari was sold this summer or in January so I have player that knows the tactics and club when or if Damari leaves. The £3.1m is a low risk gamble has there is a resale value for him.

Willi Orban,

I needed a ready made replacement for Rodnei. Orban also allows me to fill the home grown quotas but that is not why I signed him. He can become a top player for both club and country with possible captaincy role in the future. He is the first of two central defenders joining the club this summer.

I am looking to sign at least 2 more for the first team this summer but will looking at signing players for RB Leipzig 2 and U18s this summer. There are a couple surprising transfer this summer with one of them being out of my control but it was not surprising it happened.