RB Leipzig loan signing, Benjamin Henrichs has said that he didn’t take much convincing to swap Ligue 1 for the German top flight.
The 23-year-old full-back has returned to his native Germany after joining Julian Nagelsmann’s Leipzig from AS Monaco on a season-long loan. Henrichs, who is a product of Bayer Leverkusen’s youth academy, already has three caps for Germany.
Speaking with Bundesliga.com, the defender said he is delighted to have made the move after two years at AS Monaco.
On the differences between the Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga, Henrichs said they have more tactics and discipline; the formations.
“It is stricter. In France, it can be wild sometimes. We have a lot of players that are strong physically. You might not know them before the game but after the game, you will know them for sure.”
Leipzig has been in talks with Henrichs for a long time. The defender said it was the talks that convinced to come and he thinks it is the best place for him to develop, and prove that he didn’t lose his qualities.
“That’s the main reason I came back to the Bundesliga. I know the league. It’s not a league or country where I need to learn the language first or to adapt. I know the Bundesliga very well. I think that Leipzig is a great next step for me.”
Benjamin Henrichs believes RB Leipzig can be successful in Europe again
RB Leipzig stunned Athletico Madrid last season in the quarter-finals of the Champions League to qualify for the last four of the European competition for the first time in their history. For Henrichs, he believes that such feat can be repeated this season by the club.
“For sure, I think you can see what we achieved last season. We were among the four best teams in Europe in the Champions League. Of course, it wasn’t easy. It was hard to get there. Especially in the Bundesliga, I think we can deliver again.
“We can show that we have a lot of quality. I hope in the Bundesliga and the Champions League we can go as far as possible. The same goes for the DFB Cup.”
This is a different season as many clubs hardly have time to prepare for preseason du to the coronavirus pandemic. One of such club is Leipzig. Their first warm-up game was the DFB Cup against Nuremberg.
The Corona situation has led to congested fixtures for all football clubs.
“For sure, it’s a different pre-season. It was a short break for the team. For me, it was a long break. For example, today we had a test match against our youth team.
“You try to get some things in there. Try to bring some tactics in there that you want to use during the season. I think for that, it was a really good test today. Also, it is difficult to find another team right now to play against.
“Each team has the same problem. As I said, this pre-season is different but it’s the same for every team,” he added.
Henrichs played 62 Bundesliga games for Bayer Leverkusen between September 2015 and August 2018 before moving to the Ligue 1. He is therefore hoping to make the starting eleven at Leipzig.
Henrichs during his stint in France scored one goal and registered three assists in 35 Ligue 1 outings. He added that there are lot of supporters in Germany than France.
“The big difference is that we have a lot of supporters in Germany. Of course, now we have the coronavirus but before that, it was the main difference. You could feel that in Germany you were very lucky to have big supporters like that; huge groups like that. In every stadium. You can be happy about that.
” We saw Bayern Munich win the Champions League in a way which was not normal. They beat the best team in Spain 8-2. It is not only Bayern but Dortmund, Leipzig. We were there in the semi-finals as well. For example, they always say Ligue 1 is not that strong of a league but this year in the semi-finals, we had two teams from France and two teams from Germany.
“You can see that it’s not only in England or Spain. There’s competition. They’re close to each other, the leagues.”
