Nagelsmann compares new RB Leipzig striker to Lukaku

Stefan Bienkowski

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:42 CDT
• 5 min read

RB Leipzig head coach Julian Nagelsmann has suggested that new signing Brian Brobbey reminds him of Inter striker Romelu Lukaku. 

The Bundesliga club confirmed the signing of Brobbey on a four-year deal on Friday, following the 19-year-old striker’s decision to leave Ajax on a free transfer. 

Although the Dutch striker has only made 11 senior appearances to date, he has thrived at every youth level for both Ajax and the Dutch national team’s youth sides. 

As such, a number of clubs including Manchester United were chasing Brobbey’s signature but were unable to beat RB Leipzig to the striker’s signature. He’ll now join the German side in June. 

When asked about the latest addition to his squad, Nagelsmann was full of praise and suggested that Brobbey’s stature and playing style was similar to Lukaku’s and hoped the young striker would show the same level of success the Belgian international had achieved in England and Italy. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by AFC Ajax (@afcajax)

“Brian is a very big talent, an extremely physically strong and fast striker,” said Nagelsmann at a press conference on Friday.

“He has good dribbling, a very good work ethic, attacks well defensively, makes good and deep runs, is very determined in front of goal and very cold-blooded,” 

“He is relatively close to Lukaku in terms of stature. If he ends up being similarly successful, the scouting department would have made another good decision.” 

How good could Brobbey become at RB Leipzig? 

With just a handful of senior games under his belt it’s undoubtedly too soon to start getting too excited about Brobbey’s talents. But there’s no question that the striker has already shown immense potential. 

Although youth team performances are very rarely a fair barometer by which we can predict how good a player will be at senior level, Brobbey’s stats are still very impressive. 

For example, while playing in Ajax’s Under-17 team he scored 26 goals in just 24 games and then when he made the move up to Under-19s he then scored a further 42 goals in just 49 games. 

Although Brobbey’s goal scoring slowed down slightly in the higher age groups, with just 16 goals in 30 games for the Under-21 side, his four goals in 11 appearances for the Ajax senior squad suggests he’ll make the step up without too much trouble.