The Daily Bee: RB Leipzig is Making Moves While Manuel Akanji is Not

While all of us here at Borussia Dortmund celebrated our new striker, Anthony Modeste, Red Bull RasenBallsport Leipzig, has one-upped us! That’s right, the Saxon club signed not one, but two strikers in the past couple of days as they look to challenge for the Bundesliga. Earlier this week, Sean wrote about the imminent arrival of Timo Werner and that has now been confirmed! Their acquisitions also include the signing of Red Bull Salzburg’s newest Wunderkind, Benjamin Šeško, who will join next summer.

The return of Timo Werner, which Fabrizio Romano initially reported, will cost around $24 million before add-ons and potentially increase to become their record transfer fee. Obviously, we should all remember Timo Werner’s time at Leipzig where he was one of the league’s best forwards. He will surely look to replicate that form despite having a lackluster spell in the Premier League. As for Šeško, I honestly have no clue. Manchester United was linked with him earlier in the transfer window but besides that, I know very little of his time at Salzburg. Still, no surprise to see the energy-drink pipeline between Salzburg and Leipzig at work!

Speaking about transfer news, it has been reported that Manuel Akanji has had trouble finding suitors for him due to his high wage demands. These demands, which are around 13 million euros per year, have been deemed too high by most clubs interested in him, including Juventus. It is interesting because Dortmund offered him a reported wage of around 10 million euros per year earlier in this year, but Akanji rejected it, hoping for a move. I understand that Akanji wants to leave Dortmund. He is approaching the peak age of his career and has been here for a while, but hopefully, he does not shoot himself in the foot with these demands. I guess we will see if he gets sold by the end of the window or if he decides to gamble free agency next year in hopes of reaching his rather high wage demands.

The Links

• Apparently, Özcan destroyed one of Bellingham’s shoes last season and has now made a promise to rectify his mistake. Dortmund’s new midfielder has promised to purchase a new pair of cleats for his new colleague. (RN)
• Dortmund’s president, Reinhard Rauball, has announced he will not be running again this November. This will bring an end to a career that saw Rauball work for the club for 23 years. (Official Dortmund Website)
• Former Dortmund player, Sergio Gómez, could be headed to Manchester City. The recently converted left-back plied his trade in Belgium last season and could be joining one of Europe’s elite teams. I miss you, Sergio. I really do. (Fabrizio Romano)

The Daily Buzz

What do you think of the return of Timo Werner? Do you think Akanji will move on from Dortmund this window? Am I the only one who misses Sergio Gomez?