Official | Yussuf Poulsen ends RB Leipzig journey to join “awesome” Hamburg | OneFootball

Hamburg formally unveiled RB Leipzig striker Yussuf Poulsen as a new signing on Sunday evening. The 31-year-old Dane departs the only Bundesliga club he’s ever represented after twelve years of loyal service. The move was rendered possible by Poulsen agreeing to a significant pay cut to play for HSV while Leipzig themselves granted their longtime player a generous severance payment.

Leipzig were generous not only with their money, but also their words. Carefully prepared RB statements commended Poulsen for all that he did for the German Red Bulls. Irrefutably, no other player did as much for the young Bundesliga club than the Copenhagen native who helped them rise up from the German third division.

“What Yussi means to this club cannot be measured in numbers alone,” RB sporting director Marcel Schäfer noted in his statement. “but rather in memories, critical moments over the years, and in his identification with the city, the club, and the fans

“His story is almost unique in modern professional football,” Schäfer’s statement continued, “He joined a third-division club as a 19-year-old top talent and is leaving twelve years later as a two-time cup winner, Champions League goalscorer, and the record-holding identification figure of RB Leipzig.”

HSV board-member-for-sport Stefan Kuntz went one step further than Schäfer, labelling Poulsen not just an identification figure of RB Leipzig, but of the Bundesliga itself. Kuntz also made note of the fact that his newly promoted Bundesliga club gained a player who knew all how to keep a team in the top division.

“He’s one of the faces of the Bundesliga,” Kuntz noted in his own statement, “With all his experience and maturity, he knows all facets of professional football. Yussuf has gone from the third division to the Champions League with Leipzig.

“It is such that he knows only too well what it takes after promotion to stay up and establish oneself in the Bundesliga in the long term,” Kuntz’s statement continued. “He will bring this experience to the team and lead the way with his personality as a key player.”

Poulsen himself reflected both on his time spent in the Saxon capital in a Leipzig-released statement. Hamburg issued a statement in which Poulsen looked forward to representing his new club.

“When I think back to where we were when I started in 2013 and how many incredible successes and wonderful moments we have experienced since, it fills me with pure joy and a lot of pride,” Poulsen said to the RB fans. “Twelve years. What an amazing journey!“

“The first international game I ever saw was the UEFA Cup match between FC Copenhagen and HSV,” Poulsen is quoted as saying in a HSV-released statement. “This is an awesome club!”

GGFN | Peter Weis