Bundesliga transfer flop: huge wrong decision instead of a move to Bayern Munich!

Not so long ago, Lutsharel Geertruida was a constant name in the Bayern Munich rumour mill. In the summer of 2023 and again that winter, the Dutchman was seen as a transfer option for the club.

Hardly a week seemed to pass without a fresh update on the German record champions' supposed interest. As is well known, the move never happened, even though a transfer at that stage would certainly have made sense. Geertruida has a player profile that is rarely found at the top level of European football.

At just 23 at the start of 2024, he had already mastered almost the full defensive toolkit. Even more so than Benjamin Pavard, who left Bayern at exactly that time. Through the middle, on the right or in defensive midfield, Geertruida can be used almost anywhere on paper when it comes to stopping goals. Add to that his huge physical presence and game intelligence. Still, things never became concrete at Säbener Straße. The German record champions looked elsewhere instead. First, then coach Thomas Tuchel got his preferred defender in Min-jae Kim, before Eric Dier and Sacha Boey added depth to the back line six months later.

Geertruida saw out the season with his boyhood club Feyenoord Rotterdam before making the move to the Bundesliga. RB Leipzig paid €20 million. What first looked like it could be a real bargain quickly turned, from the Saxons' point of view, into a bad signing. Geertruida has now even picked up the tag of transfer flop.

Why did Lutsharel Geertruida fail at RB Leipzig?

Two years on from his arrival, the now 26-year-old is out of the picture. His debut season was mixed at best. Geertruida made 35 appearances and quickly nailed down a starting place, but he lost it around the turn of the year and spent some matches on the bench throughout. The drop had less to do with major errors than with a clash of ideas. Sharper critics might even call it a complete misjudgment by Leipzig.

Within a few weeks, it had already become clear that Geertruida simply could not function in the system used by then RB coach Marco Rose. Rose did not want his style of stepping infield from right-back into central areas. Nor did Geertruida meet the demand for orthodox defensive work out wide. Any hope that the adaptation problems would sort themselves out over time proved misplaced. After a mixed first half of the season, the early praise had completely faded.

By the end, even Rose's departure did not earn Geertruida another chance under his successor Ole Werner. Leipzig instead set up a fairly respectable loan move to ambitious Premier League newcomers AFC Sunderland. It worked out well enough. In England, Geertruida made 30 appearances and certainly managed to impress.

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No future at RB Leipzig: what next for Lutsharel Geertruida?

That said, the agreed purchase option of the same €20 million that had gone to the Dutch port city two years earlier was too steep for the Saints. Probably because Geertruida did not quite establish himself as an undisputed starter either. Even so, he earned a World Cup call-up, while big names such as Jeremie Frimpong (Liverpool) and Matthijs de Ligt (Manchester United) were left out by former Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman. In Leipzig, that probably had people rubbing their hands. The usual jump in market value after a World Cup nomination never came, though. Geertruida did not play a single minute.

Now, a few weeks later, it is highly doubtful Leipzig will come through this lightly and recover the Geertruida millions. According to consistent media reports, clubs in the Premier League and Saudi Arabia are interested, but there have reportedly been no concrete talks so far. Another loan is looking more and more likely instead. PSV Eindhoven and Ajax Amsterdam in particular are said to be monitoring a possible move.

For Geertruida, that would mean a return not just to his home country. It would also take him back to the league where he is said to have played his way onto Bayern Munich's radar before making a far-reaching decision.

Lutsharel Geertruida: Statistics before and after his move to RB Leipzig

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