RB Leipzig head coach explains why he won't sell Man Utd and Liverpool transfer target

Stefan Bienkowski

5 Aug 2021 14:29 BST
3 min read

Man Utd transfer news: Could Sabitzer be the Pogba replacement? — © ProShots

New RB Leipzig head coach Jesse Marsch has ruled out the sale of club captain Marcel Sabitzer this summer.

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The Austria international has been heavily linked with moves to Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Manchester United and most recently Bayern Munich.

Due to the fact that his contract in Leipzig is set to expire in 12 months time, reports in Germany had suggested that Sabitzer could be signed this summer for as little as €18 million.

However, when asked to address the rumours of Sabitzer leaving the club to join Bundesliga rivals Bayern, Marsch was in no mood to entertain such a notion.

"The situation with Sabi [Sabitzer] is clear,” said Marsch in a press conference, as reported by Kicker.

“He's our player, he was our captain last year and he played a great season. He was a good leader and he'll remain the captain."

© ProShots - Jurgen Klopp remains on the hunt for a replacement to Gini Wijnaldum

Why won’t Leipzig sell Marsch this summer?

On paper, RB Leipzig don’t have a huge need for Sabitzer simply because they have so much talent throughout the squad.

In the middle of the park Marsch can call upon no less than six senior central midfielders, while Dani Olmo, Christopher Nkunku and new signing Dominik Szoboszlai offer plenty of playmaking and goalscoring threats in the No.10 position.

However, as Marsch suggested himself, Sabitzer brings a degree of experience and leadership that a number of the club’s young guns simply don’t have at this moment in time.

And, for all the intrigue surrounding Sabitzer, a fee of around €18m is so low that it almost makes selling him a little pointless for a club that have perhaps no real pressure to sell players to finance their ambitions.

As such, keeping the experienced head of Sabitzer around for another season and allowing him to leave for free next summer may make more sense for Marsch in his first season in the job, rather than selling him to Bayern or a Premier League giant for a nominal fee this summer.