Football

Leeds United complete the signing of Red Bull Salzburg defender

Leeds United complete the signing of Red Bull Salzburg defender

Jesse Marsch has wasted no time in bringing in reinforcements to his Leeds United squad as they look to cement their status as a Premier League club once again. 

Red Bull Salzburg defender, Max Wober, has put pen to paper on a four-and-a-half-year deal that runs until the summer of 2027 and moves to Elland Road for an undisclosed fee. The move is still subject to a work permit being granted to the Austrian international, but this isn’t expected to be an issue. 

Wober is set to be a useful player for the Yorkshire outfit as he can play either at left-back or centre-back. Defensive frailties have seen Leeds United collapse on numerous occasions already this season, so the addition of Wober isn’t an entirely surprising one. 

The Elland Road faithful will be hoping that he can hit the ground running and it isn’t out of the question that their new number 39 makes his debut this weekend in the FA Cup. 

wober

A player with pedigree

Wober may only be 24 years of age but he has a wealth of experience across numerous European Leagues already under his belt. He initially came through the ranks at Rapid Vienna as a teenager and made 24 appearances across the Austrian Bundesliga, Austrian Cup, and Europa League. 

His performances attracted the interest of Dutch powerhouses, Ajax, who snapped him up in 2017 while he was still just 18 years old. It wasn’t long after that that he was handed his full international debut. 

During the 2018/19 campaign, Woberg was part of an Ajax team that won the league and cup double but he struggled to cement himself as a regular in Erik Ten Haag’s starting lineup. As a result, he spent the second half of the season on loan at Sevilla in La Liga meaning he had played in three top European Leagues by the time he was 20 years old. 

In the Summer of 2019, Wober made his way back to Austria when Jesse Marsh, the head coach of Red Bull Salzburg at the time, made him the Austrian Bundesliga’s most expensive ever signing at 10.5m euros. 

During the past three and half years, Wober has established himself as a key player in the Salzburg team and has amassed 125 appearances all while winning the league and cup double in three consecutive seasons.

A Red Bull reunion

Wober becomes the fourth player Leeds United have signed from a Red Bull-affiliated club since Jesse Marsch took over from Marcelo Bielsa last year and the third directly from Red Bull Salzburg. 

Rasmus Kristensen and Brenden Aaronson were picked up from Salzburg in the summer with the latter quickly establishing himself as one of Leed’s most important players. Meanwhile, Tyler Adams was brought in from Red Bull Leipzig to replace Kalvin Phillips who joined Manchester City. 

The Elland Road faithful will be hoping that Wober has a similar impact to that of Aaronson and Adams and if he does then they may be able to start looking up rather than over their shoulder.


Subscribe to Punditfeed on Google News for all the latest updates from the world of sports!