Mintzlaff – who worked as a Leipzig personnel manager for a full decade before finally permanently stepping up to the board permanently in 2024 – spent last night’s game jogging on a pitch side treadmill as part of a club PR event. Afterwards, the 50-year-old spoke to Sky Germany. At present, personnel decisions rest solely with RB sporting director Marcel Schäfer and his staff.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that Mintzlaff doesn’t carry plenty of influence when it comes to the case of Diomande and others. Mintzlaff occasionally even dipped back into an active managerial role after his official promotion. It was Mintzlaff who opted to sack current Bayern Munich board-member-for-sport Max Eberl back in September 2023 due to FCB links and return to personnel work himself.
“I’m on the supervisory board and am not the sporting director,” Mintzlaff told Sky. “But I can say this: If I were the sporting director, I wouldn’t sell this young player [Diomande] who hasn’t even been with us for a full season yet, no matter what price is offered. I believe he’s a player who will continue to develop anyway and will certainly become even more valuable.“
