Why is Julian Nagelsmann the perfect fit for RB Leipzig?
Published:
Hoffenheim coach preparing for pastures new
Julian Nagelsmann announced he was finally trading Hoffenheim for a new challenge from the season after next.
The news was certainly no surprise to even the most casual of Bundesliga fans, but with clubs such as Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Chelsea linked perhaps the destination came as a shock.
The 30-year-old coach will be joining RB Leipzig from the 2019/20 season after agreeing a four-year-deal.
Many expected Nagelsmann to end up at the Bayern this summer – and he still could in years to come, but this signing might just be the biggest in RB’s nascent life-time.
Over at Coral News HQ we take a closer a look at what he could bring and why The Bavarians may start getting worried…
Nagelsmann is destined for huge success
In his three seasons with Hoffenheim the upward curve has been seismic. After finishing 15th in his first year, achtzehn99 came fourth and then third last campaign.
This was after losing his best players in Niklas Sule, Sebastian Rudy and Sandro Wagner all to Bayern.
He has garnered an almost unparalleled reputation in his homeland and hit the dizzy heights of European football with a team destined for relegation.
Nagelsmann will also have a plethora of European experience himself when he arrives, having managed to keep the side competitive whilst guiding the club into the Champions League.
The back-to-back top-four finishes offer the stability that Leipzig are crying out for.
The club have almost certainly hired a man who will turn them into long-term rivals to the German powerhouses Bayern and Borussia Dortmund.
His eye for youth and progressive tactics
He gets every last ounce out of his players. This is clear by turning TSG from relegation contenders into top-four gate-crashers.
Midfielder Kemir Demirbay says Nagelsmann has helped him turn into a man on the football pitch.
It’s this nurturing of talent that has attracted attention from all corners of Europe.
Under Nagelsmann’s tutelage Niklas Sule has gone on to become Germany’s next great centre-back.
Serge Gnabry has become the goal-scoring winger he threatened to be at Arsenal and defender Kevin Akpoguma is now a mainstay.
Despite making the Champions League yet again, this year’s star man Mark Uth is to leave for Schalke 04.
Nagelsmann will have to show his tactical flexibility once more. His first year honed a defensive style that kept them in the division.
Whereas the last two years have been focused on fine-tuning a more progressive style with a three-man defence.
RB need to be re-energised and Nagelsmann could be the man to do it.
Re-united with Rangnick
For a multitude of reasons Leipzig are one of the most despised clubs in the German football league.
But they are also one of the most innovative.
Hence this appointment that indicates the East-German club are here to stay.
Nagelsmann will be re-united with a man he would have learned so much from after watching Rangnick as head-coach of Hoffenheim.
He even said that Rangnick proved the ‘basis’ of his work and that you can still sense the foundations he built at the Wirsol Rhein Neckar Arena.
But now they will be fully-fledged colleagues.
Rangnick praised the young coach’s intelligence and charisma.
The pair will act in tandem and share the same unforgiving drive for success that will mean RB Leipzig are not just here for a good time, but a long time too!
