A pre-season interview with Oliver Mintzlaff
Our CEO gave an interview on finding a new sporting director, the current transfer period, a possible extension of Domenico Tedesco’s contract and RB Leipzig’s goals for the upcoming season.
Oliver, what’s the current situation surrounding the search for a new sporting director?
I know I said we would have a new sporting director in place in July, however, in the short term, the situation has developed somewhat differently. For a plethora of different reasons, we had to cancel our plans to appoint the candidate with whom we were happy in the weeks following the DFB-Pokal final. One reason for that was because another opportunity surprisingly came our way which could be an extremely big chance for us. Despite all that, we won’t be able to present our new sporting director in July, and instead only after the end of the current transfer window, for understandable reasons.
Can you understand that this new update regarding the search for a new sporting director may raise a fair few questions?
I’m aware that particularly for fans, it’s a very dissatisfying thing to hear, I completely get that. However, at the end of the day, it’s not about pacifying the public, but in fact, it’s about finding the right, long-term solution for the good of the club and ensuring a successful future. We always had and still have a plan. Therefore, everything I’ve said about this matter will be lived up to in practice, nobody needs to worry in that regard.
We’re looking for somebody who will help move the club forward from within, someone who will become a face of RB Leipzig and who will also represent the club alongside the coaching staff and the team as best as possible. We’re not feeling under any pressure, because we’ve been operating like this for 15 months, a period in which we’ve seen our team play out the best campaign in club history. I’d like to take this time to state that from a sporting perspective, things have been going very well recently. We strongly recovered from our first real crisis, stuck together as a club and made the right decisions. At the same time, preparations for the upcoming season have gone and are going smoothly.
How will RB Leipzig now take on their short- and medium-term challenges such as the transfer window and finding a new sporting director?
The board will continue in the transfer market as they have done so far and will do so for the remainder of the window. However, due to the events described previously and the short-term developments that occurred during the decision-making process of finding a new sporting director, we do unfortunately find ourselves a few months behind schedule. That being said, the logical step going forward is to finish the transfer window in our current setup.
What do your plans for this transfer window look like?
The signing of Xaver Schlager is a great example of how we would like to improve the quality of our squad with every transfer window. We wanted to sign him back when Ralf Rangnick was still at the club, but it didn’t quite work out at the time. The contract extensions of key players such as Marcel Halstenberg and Kevin Kampl were also important.
Christopher Nkunku signing a contract extension until 2026 wasn’t just unbelievably important for our team and our club but also for the entire Bundesliga. To have such a fantastic, sought-after and extraordinary player continue his journey here with us is a really strong sign for our club on both a national and international level. As well as that, we’d like to continue to make improvements to our squad. But, to ensure our squad size is appropriate, we’ll also need to sell some players, and that’s a process in which we currently find ourselves.
Reports have come out recently that our coach Domenico Tedesco has rejected a contract extension?
I’ve also read the headlines, and they’re simply part and parcel of slow news days in the summer. We’re very pleased with the work Domenico and his team have done. They didn’t just turn things around for us in the first few months, but they also helped us to our first major honour in the DFB-Pokal. During discussions after the season together with the executive board, I of course mentioned that we hadn’t forgotten about the prospect of a contract extension and that a conversation surrounding that could certainly be held soon – but that there is absolutely no time pressure with regards to this matter. The coach shared the same opinion and said that he would happily wait until winter before further discussions took place. It was a more than mutual agreement, because both parties understand that we don’t need to put any added pressure on the situation.
What are our goals for the new season?
Of course, we’d like to qualify for the Champions League, which would be the sixth time achieving that in seven years. We want to establish ourselves on the international stage, which for us means progressing through the Champions League group stage. If we can achieve that again, then we’ll just have to see what else is in the competition for us with regards to our opponents and our experience levels in international competitions, which are increasing every year. Above all, though, we want to play attractive football, take the momentum of the DFB-Pokal victory with us into this season and provide our fans with plenty of moments of fun and enjoyment.