Uli Hoeness has told RB Leipzig they need to ‘stop buying kids’ if they want to seriously threaten the champions. The Bayern Munich president’s words are bound to add spice to the meeting of the two sides on Saturday.At one stage, this weekend’s match looked like it might be a title decider. But Leipzig’s 3-0 loss to Bayern just before Christmas re-established the champions’ dominance of the Bundesliga and the newly-promoted side fell away after a sensational start to their maiden top-flight campaign.
Nevertheless, Leipzig can make sure of second place with a point on Saturday, after securing direct qualification to the Champions League last weekend. To most observers, the eastern German club’s policy of hoovering up young talent has been an unqualified success but Hoeness is not convinced.
“I can’t imagine that you can manage it by playing three times a week with just young people,” he told German broadcaster Sport1. “I am quite sure that Leipzig won’t be able to continue on their path if they play like that in the Champions League.”
The outspoken 65-year-old even went as far as to tell Leipzig’s billionaire backer, Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz, that until his club changes their strategy, he won’t see them as a genuine threat – this despite Leipzig topping the table for three weeks last November.
“I told him: ‘dear Mr Mateschitz, when you sign older players, you will be a very serious opponent for us’,” said Hoeness.
But Leipzig, whose last five signings have all been aged 21 or younger, will not be intimidated in to changing their ways, according to sporting director Ralf Rangnick.
“We won’t be buying known, expensive stars, instead we will be sticking with our policy of taking young, gifted players,” he said. “We’ll keep developing as we have developed the current team.”
Leipzig’s signings for their Bundesliga debut campaign have been something of a mixed bag. Timo Werner and Naby Keita have been among the best players in the league this term and are likely to attract interest from Europe’s biggest clubs in the off-season. But big-money Scottish winger Oliver Burke has struggled to make a significant impact, albeit with fairly limited playing time.
