What became of the top legionnaires? (1) – RB Salzburg, Part 1 of 3 » abseits.at
After we looked at some flops of the Austrian Bundesliga clubs in autumn and reported on what became of them after their career in Austria, in this series we shed light on the legionnaires who made the leap into the big football world via Austria and brought their clubs warm rain of money .
In the first part of our series, we look at the legionnaires who switch from Red Bull Salzburg to RB Leipzig and cause a sensation there or at their other stations. It is the first of three parts about the Red Bulls’ successful exports in recent years.
Peter Gulacsi
Three million euros RB Leipzig paid for Peter Gulácsi in 2015. The 31-year-old goalkeeper from Budapest has been a fixer for Leipzig ever since and still plays for the German Red Bull offshoot. The 46-time Hungarian team goalkeeper, who only played two years in Salzburg, is now captain of Leipzig and played 250 games for the club – compared to 100 games for Salzburg. With him, the Saxons landed a real bargain.
Bernard
Six million euros possibly RB Leipzig in August 2016 for Brazilian right-back Bernardo. But even though he was a regular player at first, the now 26-year-old’s involvement in Leipzig was rather mixed. In 2018 he was resold to the English club Brighton for ten million euros, where he primarily lost time and was never able to play in the starting eleven in 2 ½ years. In the meantime, Bernardo has returned to Salzburg – first on loan, then again on a permanent basis. But there is currently no fixed starter in the city of Mozart either.
Hee-chan Hwang
Nine million euros Transfer brought Hee-chan Hwang to Salzburg in July 2020. This was just the initial amount and if successful, Hwang could even go up to 14 million. However, it is unlikely that the bonus payments will come about, because the 42-time Korean team player only collected three goals and four assists in 29 games for Leipzig, traffic in the Bundesliga not once. At the beginning of the current season he was loaned out to Wolverhampton, where he has been traffic four times so far and is largely part of the regular team. The wolves also hold a purchase option on the 25-year-old.
Dayot Upamecano
18.5 million euros Leipzig paid for Dayot Upamecano in January, although he previously only played 23 games for Salzburg. The great potential of the French was already visible back then and so he became a star in his 154 games for RB. In the summer of 2021, Upamecano’s development culminated in a €42.5 million transfer to Bayern Munich, where he is currently also a regular. The 23-year-old central defender has also made three appearances for the French national team.
Amadou Haidara
19 million euros paid Leipzig in January 2019 for the services of Amadou Haidara. The prudent eight from Mali had some teething problems, but was able to establish itself in the RB Leipzig team last season 2020/21. Haidara is also in the starting XI of the German Bundesliga team in the current season, where he extended his contract until 2025 last May, despite interest from Manchester United and other big clubs.
Dominik Szoboszlai
22 million euros paid RB Leipzig to Salzburg exactly a year ago to guide the 21-year-old Dominik Szoboszlai to the German Bundesliga. However, Szoboszlai was unlucky and missed the first six months in Leipzig due to adductor problems. The 18-time Hungarian team player only made his debut for RB in the summer and although he is still adjusting, he has already scored eight goals for his new club. If the left winger is resold, Salzburg will receive an additional 20% of the transfer fee.
Naby Keita
30 million euros At the beginning of Leipzig for the now 26-year-old box-to-box midfielder Naby Keita in July 2016. After bonus payments and resale clauses, it was even a whopping 45 million euros that Salzburg made with the Guinean. In Leipzig, Keita was a real performer with 17 goals and 15 assists in 71 games. This was followed by a move to Liverpool FC in the summer of 2018 for an incredible 60 million euros. So far, however, Keita has been an expensive flop for the Reds. In none of his four seasons so far has he become a regular player and a little more than 90 games in 3 ½ years are of course not statistics for a real top performer.