A new season begins for Péter Gulácsi

With the dust now settled on this summer’s delayed European Championships, it is time for Hungary’s 26-man squad to go back to club business and for one man in particular, it will mean returning between the sticks for Red Bull Leipzig.

The man in question is Péter Gulácsi and with the shot stopper having a rather impressive showing on the international stage just a couple of months ago, he will look to carry that level of performance over to the Bundesliga.

That’s because Red Bull Leipzig or RB Leipzig as they are perhaps better known, will once again look to offer something of a genuine title challenge this season and with it being all change in the former East German city, such ambition may prove to be difficult.

Especially, as the energy drink backed club have lost their former manager to arch-rivals and whereas Bayern Munich are known for poaching the best clubs within the division, they have subsequently poached arguably the best manager.

Because with Julien Nagelsmann swapping the Red Bull Arena for that of the Allianz variety, it means the nine-time defending Bundesliga champions can now call upon one of Europe’s hottest managerial talents.

Of course, football as in life must always go on and with Red Bull owning a network of clubs, there is always an element of succession for events such as above and when Nagelsmann moved onto Munich, the next manager already lied in wait.

With Red Bull Salzburg lighting up the Austrian version of the Bundesliga, it was pretty obvious that Jesse Marsch was always going to be on the radar of fellow European clubs and one of those was reportedly Celtic of Scotland.

The Glasgow giants took a long amount of time in finally naming a new manager of their own and before former Australian international manager Ange Postecoglou was installed, Marsh was considered to be in the frame.

However, Celtic’s timing was not ideal and with a vacancy opening up in Leipzig, staying within the Red Bull network seemed of greater preference to the man who is now installed as their current manager.

While it has certainly been a summer of overhaul for last season’s Bundesliga runners-up and not just from a managerial point of view either, as there has been a considerable change in terms of playing personnel.

Especially in defence, as RB Leipzig’s two main centre-backs have long since departed and arguably the biggest move of the Bundesliga transfer window (at least from an internal point of view), is the transfer of Dayot Upamecano to Bayern Munich.

The 22-year-old links up with his former manager Julian Nagelsmann and will be tasked with helping his new club land an incredible 10^th successive Bundesliga crown at the end of the season, while fellow defender Ibrahima Konate has moved to Premier League outfit Liverpool.

These two exits may well have hampered RB Leipzig’s hopes of snaring the Bundesliga for themselves and this is currently reflected in the sports betting sites, as they are only third favorites behind Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in the odds.

While the loss of both Upamercano and Konate, may well make life difficult for Peter Gulácsi at the same time and with two solid defenders no longer keeping guard in front of him, the Hungarian international may be slightly busier in goal next season.

However, that’s not to say manager Jesse Marsch plans to leave his goalkeeper exposed for the length of the campaign and with the addition of Josko Gvardiol to the ranks, the Croatian will look to slot right into defence.

While at the same time, the Leipzig outfit could just as easily aim to outscore their opponents instead and with Andre Silva making the switch from fellow Bundeslia outfit Eintracht Frankfurt, he will be charged with scoring the necessary goals throughout.

Whether RB Leipzig can truly challenge for this season’s Bundesliga crown remains to be seen and you get the feeling that they are going to have to be at their best, while their two closest rivals are going to have to both struggle.

That in itself is not outside the realm of possibility, although it may need senior players such as Gulácsi to step up the plate and if he can show his Hungarian prowess between the posts, who knows where RB Leipzig will end up?