BERLIN (AP) — After missing out on European qualification for the first time since its promotion to the Bundesliga, Leipzig has torn up its squad and started again.

The Red Bull-backed club was involved in 26 transfers over the summer after hiring a new head coach and three assistants among 12 changes to the coaching setup.

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Players like Xavi Simons, Benjamin Šeško, Mohamed Simakan, and Loïs Openda all left the club — reportedly generating almost 200 million euros ($237 million) — while arrivals including Conrad Harder, Arthur Vermeeren, Johan Bakayoko, Andrija Maksimović, Yan Diomande and Brazilian forward Rômulo among others took the club’s spending to 136 million euros ($161 million), according to Transfermarkt.de.

The man responsible, Leipzig sporting director Marcel Schäfer, acknowledged Tuesday before the Champions League started that it would be strange “to just sit down and watch other teams when they play in Europe.”

Since clinching its promotion to the Bundesliga in 2017, Leipzig had never failed to qualify for at least the Europa League until its seventh-place finish last season.

“It should be a motivation for us to go the extra mile for qualifying next season,” Schäfer said in an online media call.

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New coach Ole Werner, hired by Leipzig after he was fired by Werder Bremen for refusing to sign a contract extension, has overseen a promising start with three wins from four games including the German Cup, even if the loss was a chastening 6-0 rout at Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga’s opening game. Bayern’s subsequent performances indicate the defending champion is already playing at higher level to the rest.

In contrast to previous years, none of Leipzig’s signings came from sister clubs, but Red Bull’s head of global soccer, Jürgen Klopp, did play a role in convincing players to join.

“To be honest, maybe we lost a little bit of our DNA,” Schäfer said of his rebuilding job. “So the profile we looked for was definitely young, hungry and high potential. We’re looking for a team who plays high intensity with the ball, but especially a high intensity against the ball. And of course, you need some skills for that, you need profiles, you need the right mentality for that. That for us was the main target. We want to see Red Bull soccer.”

While Leipzig’s model was previously built on developing promising young talents, Schäfer acknowledged greater competition to sign that player profile from the likes of Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund. The latter notably beat Leipzig for the signature of a young Erling Haaland from Red Bull Salzburg in 2019.

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“The competition is hard,” Schäfer said. “Five to six years ago, there were just a few clubs who really focused on young, hungry, high potential players and developed them. Now, even the top teams in England, they try to sign the best talents in the world and the best talent in Europe.”

Schäfer suggested Leipzig had an advantage attracting young players because of its record developing the likes of Christopher Nkunku, Dani Olmo, Joško Gvardiol, Dayot Upamecano, Ibrahima Konaté, Dominik Szoboszlai and others.

“Maybe a step between is better — with due respect — before taking a step from a smaller club to a big club directly,” Schäfer said. “Maybe then they don’t have the playing time, they don’t have the patience, because all the top clubs, they need to win titles. Everything else is secondary.”

Leipzig, which was only founded in 2009, doesn’t just want to develop players. The club won the German Cup in 2022 and again the following year.

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“Everybody knows we have our ambition,” Schäfer said. “We already won titles, and we want to compete with the best teams, not only in Germany, even in Europe.”

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer