After a summer that could have been significantly detrimental to RB Leipzig with key players leaving on mass, they have seemingly managed to replace their outgoings magnificently. However, with the loan acquisitions of Fábio Carvalho and Xavi Simons, there have been claims that Leipzig will not benefit from their signings. This is as Saxony will, ultimately, merely be a pitstop in their long successful careers.
There is truth to this. With Liverpool and PSG reluctant to sell their future stars, they face a difficult dilemma. While they cannot guarantee game time to their 20-year-old sensations, they do not want to permanently lose their signatures.
Therefore, by shipping off Carvalho and Simons to Saxony for a season-long loan, they will know that their players will receive the required world-class environment that is needed for their development. This means that when they return to Anfield and the Parc des Princes respectively, they can seamlessly slot into the first team.
Ultimately, the biggest issue with this for Leipzig is that they are developing players from sides that they would consider continental rivals. Where they should be competing with Liverpool and PSG on the European stage, instead, they are making them better in the long run.
However, there is an alternative way to view the business conducted by Max Eberl. Both Carvalho and Simons have been identified as permanent transfer targets, but, their parent clubs have not wished to sell their prized assets. Consequently, a loan is the best possible solution for Eberl and head coach Marco Rose.
While not ideal, this does offer Die Roten Bullen a potential short-term and long-term benefit. In the short term, both players will provide the side with the quality to compensate for the departures of key players. As previously suggested, Simons’ goal creation in the Eredivisie with PSV Eindhoven will offer Rose the perfect replacement for – ironically – Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai.
Both players can supply Leipzig with instant quality that could prove decisive with the side hoping to compete on three fronts. A triumph in the DFB-Pokal once again for Die Roten Bullen would be considered a successful season, and the loan signings would have done their job.
Additionally, success in the Bundesliga or in Europe would suggest that Max Eberl had applied a stroke of genius in the deals. It could and potentially would propel Leipzig into becoming an elite-level European club that could attract and keep world-class players.
Nevertheless, if Leipzig succumb to a less-than-remarkable campaign, then there could still be long-term gain. By developing Carvalho and Simons on the pitch, they may also become aware that they could progress their careers far greater in Germany. Therefore, this could tempt both players into forcing a move back to Leipzig with their position at their parent club still not guaranteed.
This is also disregarding that Leipzig will not have to spend and risk a fortune on these players. If they do not work out, then they do not have to worry about having to sell them on at a cut price, instead, next summer they can venture into the market for a permanent solution with the funds they have amassed so far this summer.
While there are obvious pitfalls to this approach by Leipzig and Eberl, there is an abundance of potential gain that cannot be forgotten or written off. It is hard to imagine that any other club would turn down the opportunity of taking Carvalho and Simons on a season-long loan where their talents would eventually burgeon anyway.
This way, Leipzig will, at minimum, receive a year of excellent service from the pair. If a Meisterschale or a European trophy awaits the Saxons at the end of the campaign, then they may be regarded as the greatest loan signings in the history of German football.
GGFN | Will Shopland
