Wagner managed five different clubs over 15 years before settling into an academy position, and found new energy in new role
At the start of the season, David Wagner summoned the Under-19 team at RB Leipzig into the locker room. He looked at the eager faces of youngsters whose dream is to someday play professional soccer for the first team. Wagner had a speech prepared. And it wasn’t necessarily all sunshine.
The general sense? Odds are, only two of the 25 kids in the room would be likely to wear a first team shirt.
“This is the truth,” Wagner recalls telling them. “If you look to the left and to the right, if we are lucky, and if we are super successful as an academy, two of you will make it.”
It was a harsh reality to place on a group of teenagers, still a little bit twinkly-eyed. But it wasn’t intended to crush any dreams, or curtail any ambitions, Wagner said.
Instead, it was the opposite. The newly-appointed head of youth development for RB Leipzig – working alongside lifelong friend Jurgen Klopp – wanted to set the standard for the kind of academy he intends to run. And that kind of message – blunt, honest, yet supportive and understanding – is the attitude the journeyman manager has carried into his new role.
“I was searching for something new,” Wagner told GOAL. “I was searching to get more experience in different setups in the football world, because I loved the game. And I was searching for something which was maybe outside of my routine.”
Getty Images SportSearching for a new challenge
Wagner’s journey has been an interesting one. The Frankfurt, Germany native has enjoyed an illustrious career – one that could yet continue – in football management, coaching in his home country and England for five different clubs. His Huddersfield Town side, where he managed from 2015-2019, were the golden boys of the Premier League for a spell, the low-budget, high-output team that even rival fans rooted for.
He has coached in the Champions League, Europa League, Premier League, Bundesliga, Swiss Super League, 3. Liga. and English Championship. But in July, it was time for a change of pace. His time as a player ended in 2006. He has been in head coaching roles since 2011. And when lifelong friend Klopp started a high-profile job as head of gobal soccer for Red Bull on Jan. 1, a natural opportunity opened up.
Red Bull, under the tutelage of one of the greats, with a fine academy to work with, was an easy sell.
“There are some people in the head of the structure who I know a lot, who I trust a lot,” Wagner said with a knowing chuckle. “If they have targets in their mind, they will normally reach them.”
AdvertisementGetty Images'You have to be obsessed'
This has, in truth, always been part of Wagner’s DNA. He, like many top managers, started his career in the youth ranks – overseeing Borussia Dortmund II, the club’s reserve team, for five years. There, he guided them to the highest level a reserve team can reach in Germany. Before that, he was a youth coach at Hoffenheim.
Even in first team roles, he has been eager to give the kids a chance – whether it be in training or handing out debuts. Football at the youth level has changed radically over the 15 years since. But Wagner insists that one thing remains true. You have to be deeply invested. And you can’t overthink.
“You have to be obsessed about what you are doing," he said. "I think the guys who at one moment start to be obsessed, and not think ‘What should I do? Is this the right thing?’ they are then very often the small percentages who can make the step over."
Yet there is complexity. Even the best youth players have to wait for their moment. Sometimes, their path into the first team is blocked. Sometimes, players, even if they have the quality, aren’t physically ready.
And then there are the expectations of performance. RB Leipzig are a team that should compete for Champions League football. There are a lot of good footballers here. Getting eager youth players to be patient is part of the process, not a contradiction.
“The good thing will come. Don't get nervous, don't get frustrated, don't get negative," he said. "Don't get tracked into these emotions. In some situations, you can easily do it. But this is why, for me, it isn't contrast. You can be obsessed, but you can be impatient in the right moments as well. And this is where we have to support them, so that they can balance it out."
RB Leipzig 'It helps if you have the right values'
And then there are the realities of things. If only two of every 25 make it to the first team – and even they aren’t guaranteed to stay there long term – what happens to the remaining 23? Of course, there are other options, other academies, and life outside of football.
The Leipzig academy, to be sure, is elite. But there is, admittedly, a range of ability to be worked with. And even for those who don’t make it, the journey itself is part of the learning curve.
“At the end of the day, they get all the education, all the information, all the ideas, all the training," Wagner said. "They can use all the facilities in a top professional academy set up. What they can take out of this sometimes depends on the talent."
And Wagner sees value in developing character – regardless of whether that can be applied on a pitch. After all, he was once a full-time teacher with a degree in biology. He knows what the non-football world looks like.
“It helps if you have the right values… to support and help the other part of the academy players to become better players in whatever division they end up in,” Wagner said.
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GettyFinding another Tyler Adams
Part of Wagner's focus is America. The Red Bull network now includes six clubs on three continents. For some time, there was a clear pipeline from New York Red Bulls to RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg.
USMNT and Bournemouth star Tyler Adams was the poster child of the journey. Canada manager Jesse Marsch, too, found himself in the pipeline. Wagner admitted that the U.S. remains a priority – both for him and Red Bull at large.
“We have a big eye on America, especially because of our partnership with our partner club. So I guess we know more or less everything about America and American talents,” Wagner said.
But of late, that has rather dried up. Adams left Leipzig in 2022. And there hasn’t been a top tier American talent to come through the system since. Wagner said there’s no singular reason why, but talent identification is part of the problem.
“One of the reasons that you cannot always create a Tyler Adams story every year is that you have to find them, and you have to develop them,” Wagner said.
Yet he remains optimistic. The Red Bulls are opening a state of the art new facility next year. He hopes that will attract some of the brightest prospects in the talent-rich New Jersey area – and bring more players through the system.
“We will make a huge step in terms of recruitment, in terms of developing top talents in America, because there are no better facilities, no better academy in America than the Red Bull New York Academy,” Wagner said. “And I know how huge that step is, an academy, for a football club, in finding, recruiting and getting talent into your building.”
After that, it just comes down to math. The next Adams is out there.
“The more talent you have in your building, you have a highest percentage chance to create and the highest percentage to find another Tyler Adams,” Wagner said.
There are other connections, too. Red Bull have partnered with Top Baller for a street soccer content that will promote brand awareness and, eventually, give two players the chance to try out for the Leipzig academy. That event, in coordination with the Bundesliga, starts on November 1 in New York. And it could be significant for the club's growth in the youth scene.
"I think it's huge for us. It's huge to make our stamp in the American market, with our organization and with our football knowledge as well. And obviously, every event gives us a chance to find another talent," Wagner said. "And at the end of the day, this is why I'm in my chair."
Some Red Bull academy players will also train in Leipzig during the next international break. The connections are getting stronger, Wagner says.
“Have we done everything right in the past? Maybe not in our communication, maybe not in our relationship. But we are on the right track,” Wagner said.