Football professionals tend to accompany club changes with the same phrases. There is then talk of new challenges, great anticipation for the team and fans, and a firm will to achieve the goals of the new employer. Brajan Gruda also said one of these sentences on Monday – but one that was obviously meant more seriously than many others: “I really wanted to move to RB Leipzig when it was clear that a winter move was possible for me.”
A little later it became clear that there was actually a lot behind the words. Instead of boarding a plane as usual, Gruda got into the car and set off from England to Saxony. The distance from his previous club Brighton & Hove Albion to Leipzig is around 1,060 kilometers. As the Bild reported that two friends accompanied him. The journey took around eleven hours – it started spontaneously on Saturday evening.
After traveling through the Eurotunnel, across France, Belgium, the Netherlands and large parts of Germany, the 21-year-old reached Leipzig on Sunday morning. The medical check took place in the afternoon, followed shortly after midnight by the signing of the contract – and thus one of the most surprising transfers of this Bundesliga winter. After all, until recently there was hardly anything to indicate that the flexible offensive player would leave his camp in the south of the British Isles so quickly.
Gruda gets a special shirt number in Leipzig
Just a few days earlier, Gruda had spoken quite naturally in England about his future in Brighton. The German U21 international explained that the goal for the season was clear: qualification for European competition. “We have to look from game to game, give 100 percent and get the points,” he said – and also looked back on his move in the summer of 2024. The decisive factor at the time was that both the club and coach Fabian Hürzeler really wanted to sign him.
However, the offensive player never felt completely at home on the British island. In the current season, Gruda scored three goals and three assists in 20 competitive games for the Premier League club. Maybe that’s why his new club didn’t need much convincing.
Although it is initially just a loan until the end of the season, Gruda will wear a special shirt number in Leipzig in the future: 10. Managing director Marcel Schäfer made it clear that the Saxons had been keeping an eye on the 21-year-old for a long time.
“We have had him on our radar for several years and would have liked to bring him to Leipzig in 2024. Even after that, we never lost contact,” said Schäfer. Gruda brings speed, technical quality and creativity, has strong ball control and, with his attitude, his physicality and his commitment, also fits the Leipzig style of play in defense. “He has played regularly in the Premier League, is fit and will hardly need any time to get used to it,” continued Schäfer.
Leipzig: Gruda is a classic street footballer
On top of that, Gruda is very familiar with the Bundesliga despite his young age – and vice versa. The midfielder celebrated his debut in Germany’s top division at 1. FSV Mainz 05 in January 2023 and immediately impressed the fans. Already in his first season he was an integral part of the professional squad and regularly showed off what he had learned as a child in his hometown of Speyer: almost everything that makes a classic street footballer.
A few blocks of flats, lots of children and young people who love football, a ball and two handball goals – that’s all it took for long afternoons on the football pitch. This is how Gruda remembers his youth. “The boys were mostly older than me, some over 20 years old. I was the only one allowed to play, and my father was also sometimes there,” he said.
“That was a great time and a good school for me. You can say that my dribbling strength comes from that time.”
Gruda also showed his carefree attitude in the Bundesliga stadiums. After his arrival, he didn’t have any respect for older opponents or big names; instead, he always courageously looked for one-on-one situations, especially on the right wing. In Leipzig they are now hoping that the 21-year-old can build on his strong times in Mainz – even if the internal competition is fierce. Especially on the right wing, where Yan Diomande has long since established himself.
Is Gruda applying to Nagelsmann?
But coach Ole Werner definitely has a need for other positions. Assan Ouédraogo will be out for a long time, so Gruda could be an option in eighth place. In any case, one thing is clear: the newcomer is destined to play an important role in Leipzig. The fact that he is given the number 10 shirt as a loan player without the option to buy says a lot about his standing.
At the same time, it serves as a signal – and a gentle form of courtship. Despite the lack of an option, the bosses believe they have a chance of signing Gruda permanently in the summer if the second half of the season is successful for all sides.
For Gruda himself, a strong rest of the season would also be of central importance from a personal perspective. It should help him fulfill a big dream: taking part in the 2026 World Cup. “It’s a dream, of course. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a dream. Who doesn’t want to play in the World Cup?” he said recently in the Brighton & Hove Albion jersey. That’s why he gives it his all – and then sees what happens.
There has not yet been any contact with national coach Julian Nagelsmann. “But I hope that contact will come if the performance on the pitch is right. Then I assume that a call will come in,” explained Gruda. If everything goes according to plan, he will have his first opportunity to attract attention in the RB Leipzig jersey next Sunday in the away game against 1. FC Köln.
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