“It is our goal to find and develop the best talents in the world and to play football successfully with them nationally and internationally.” Salzburg’s formula for success sounds so simple in the words of sports boss Christoph Freund, but has been a highly complex machine for years. Which has become the ultimate in Europe: Since summer 2014, the Bulls have sold players worth 434.15 million euros, an increase of 328 million euros. World-class players such as Sadio Mané, Erling Haaland, Naby Keïta or Dayot Upamecano matured into great stars in the city of Mozart.
The new cop concept began nine years ago
And the next ones stand ante portas. Karim Adeyemi is hunted by half of Europe, Mo Camara, Rasmus Kristensen, Luka Sučić, Roko Šimić or Nicolas Seiwald are also in the limelight and will wash millions into the coffers.
It all began in 2012, when Ralf Rangnick took over in Salzburg and completely redesigned the concept of the bulls: moving away from the original plan of winning titles with Austrians to becoming the number 1 European training club Transfer phase in which non-bull players are exported to the big football world.
Seven scouts guide young stars to Salzburg
Before that, the heroes of tomorrow will be observed up to 40 times in a targeted manner, seven scouts are at work in Salzburg. The target group: players between the ages of 16 and 19. The bulls offer fast international games, but still an “oasis of well-being”, a place where they can develop in peace.
Four people have been assigned to make the first time in Salzburg as pleasant as possible for the newcomers. “They accompany our talents not only in football, but also in their private lives: show them the city, do things with them. We only hire so many foreign talents that we can take care of them all very intensively and in a familiar way,” said Freund.
Salzburg invests the millions in scouting
The hopefuls come to the professionals at a young age via the second division club Liefering. Significant: Salzburg has the youngest team in the current Champions League season, most recently against Wolfsburg the average age was 22.4 years. If the fully trained players move on, Salzburg will invest some of the millions back into the scouting system – the end of the million dollar machinery is not in sight
