While Sporting Director Denis Hamlett was with the rest of the New York Red Bulls technical staff in the club’s New Jersey draft room for the 2020 MLS SuperDraft, head coach Chris Armas was in Leipzig.
Armas is with the German Bundesliga side for the week, observing the Red Bulls’ sister club in training and meeting with the coaching staff during RB Leipzig’s winter break.
Armas will return to New York this weekend ahead of the club opening preseason camp.
If this sounds familiar, it is similar to the trip former Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch made in Jan. 2017.
It was rumored at the time Marsch was in talks to become the Red Bull Salzburg coach — which he is now. But Marsch was first in Austria for meetings and then joined Leipzig in Portugal at their January winter camp.
Marsch’s comments at the time likely provide a window into what Armas, who is entering his second full season in charge of the Red Bulls, is experiencing in Leipzig.
“There’s a lot of shared ideas and a shared system,” Marsch said. “What’s really great when you go to Leipzig is the level of detail, the level of technology, the level of training and playing at all levels that now is proven to be one of the highest in Europe. To learn from them, to be around them, to integrate with their whole staff is a real privilege. I think it’s helped me a lot, so I’ll be ready to use some of that information to make us better this year.”
