RB Leipzig’s Andre Silva thinks his side can dethrone Bayern Munich to win the Bundesliga this season

Andre Silva’s €23 million move from Eintracht Frankfurt to RB Leipzig was arguably one of the best pieces of transfer business in the Bundesliga this summer aside from Bayern Munich acquiring Dayot Upamecano from Leipzig for €45 million. The Portuguese striker marked his competitive debut for Leipzig with an assist in Die Roten Bullen’s 4-0 routing of SV Sandhausen of the first round of the DFB-Pokal as he started and clocked a total of 68 minutes before being replaced by Brian Brobbey.

Following up from his sensational 2020/2021 season with Frankfurt where he scored a total of 28 Bundesliga goals, second only to Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski (41), Silva feels Leipzig has what it takes to win the Bundesliga title this season. “Bayern are Bayern, but if we manage to get firing and play to our limit, then we’ve got a chance,” the Portuguese international recently said to Sport Bild (via Bundesliga.com).

Admittedly, scoring 28 goals again this season will be a tough task for Silva, having moved clubs and also having a new manager in Jesse Marsch come in. Silva’s tenure at Frankfurt was one of the first times in his career that he spent two consecutive seasons at any one club, having been loaned out to both Frankfurt and Sevilla from AC Milan at separate intervals. Silva is approaching this season realistically, knowing that it will be an adjustment with a new club and a new set of players as he tries to hit last season’s numbers in front of goal. “It’s easy to say [I’ll score more], but in reality it’ll be even harder. Frankfurt was the first club in my career where I played for more than one consecutive season. And my second season was much better because I was familiar with the way of playing. Now in Leipzig there are new players, a new style of play and a new coach for me. So it’s a different situation and there are no guarantees. But I promise to give my all,” he explained.

In a bizarre bit of personal preference, Silva said he chose to wear the number 33 shirt for Leipzig based on a simple math equation. “I play as a number nine, so three times three makes nine,” he said. Of course, Yussuf Poulsen wears the number 9 shirt at RB Leipzig, but Silva also wore the number 33 kit at Frankfurt, which is rare for a striker.

Photo by Roland Krivec/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Simply put, Silva said he’s at Leipzig to score goals, and that’s what he’s going to try to do as they try to finally dethrone Bayern for the first time in ten seasons. “I’m in Leipzig to show why RB want to sign me and to make the team stronger. My first objective is to score a lot of goals for RB,” he stated.