The Red Bull Group is coming to English football after buying a minority ownership stake in Leeds United. The energy drinks giant, who owns a host of clubs around the world, will now enter England after investing in the former Premier League club days after they missed out on promotion in the Championship playoff final.
For Liverpool, there will be intrigue. The Reds have struck up something of an unofficial link with two of their other clubs, Bundesliga side RB Leipzig and Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg, in recent years. Naby Keita, Ibrahima Konate, Sadio Mane and Takumi Minamino all made their way to Anfield via the Red Bull network at some stage or another.
Jürgen Klopp’s former assistant, Pep Lijnders, has also just taken over the managerial role at Red Bull Salzburg. And Klopp has made intriguing comments regarding the “interesting project” which has attracted plenty of attention within the world of football in recent years.
Back in pre-season ahead of the 2022/23 season, Liverpool travelled to both Leipzig and Salzburg to play preseason friendlies. Ahead of their game in Austria, Klopp said to LFCTV: “What Red Bull is doing is a really interesting project, I have to say. The team is incredibly young but incredibly skilled.
“Again, they kind of change every year, they sell players but still a good team. It’s really interesting what they are doing. The football philosophy is not too far away from ours as well.
“So it will be intense, it will be high press everywhere, it will be counter-press, we have to find solutions and that’s why we are here.”
Leeds United will now be watching on with interest to as the “really interesting project” makes its way to Elland Road, albeit in a smaller, more limited capacity. Announcing the deal, Leeds chairman Paraag Marathe said: “Red Bull’s addition is a historic milestone that will further empower the club to reach its full competitive potential.”
