In an exclusive interview ahead of the German Supercup, RB Leipzig’s Dani Olmo explains why leaving Barcelona for Croatia as a teenager turned him into a different player and why his love of chess reflects his nature as Spain’s problem solver…
Friday 11 August 2023 08:54, UK
They say that a football match can be like a game of chess but for Dani Olmo the connection is more literal. The RB Leipzig attacking midfielder plays chess against Yussuf Poulsen and Benjamin Henrichs for his club, while facing off against goalkeeper Unai Simon for Spain.
He takes that mentality into his football. "On the pitch, also, I try to think about every movement, not just to move left because the ball is going left," Olmo tells Sky Sports.
"I am always trying to find the best solutions when I have the ball and when I do not have the ball. Either for me or for the team-mate, to create space for other guys or even for myself. I just try to do everything for a reason not just doing it for [the sake of] doing."
Olmo is a special player, someone who can score goals and create them too. At the start of June, he helped Leipzig to victory in the German Cup final for a second successive season. "I always say that the most difficult thing is not to win it, it is to repeat it."
Later that month, he featured in Spain's Nations League triumph over Croatia, an international trophy to go with his club success. On Saturday, he will face Bayern Munich in the German Supercup. Once again, his role will be to create and connect for his team.
"Where I feel most comfortable is in the middle of the pitch, between the lines behind the striker. That is where my team-mates know me best. I like to receive the ball, dribble, get into the position to shoot, to make that last pass, to make the combinations with my team-mates. I just like to play with the ball."
His blend of skills is unusual, a product, perhaps, of a unique journey. Olmo is a son of Barcelona's famed academy La Masia - literal translation, the farmhouse. But this Spain international with 31 caps is the prodigal son. The boy who flew the coop.
He left for Dinamo Zagreb at the age of 16, spending five and a half seasons in Croatia before moving to Leipzig at the start of 2020. A player steeped in the possession game of Barcelona has since thrown himself into the transitional style of the Bundesliga.
"Here, it is a different kind of football. It is more direct. When you have the space we always try to attack and go for the goal as soon as possible. With Spain, it is a more conservative. A possession game, a positional game. I just try to bring my best to both places."
It is enough to make one wonder how differently his game would have developed had he remained in Catalonia rather than taking that rarest of steps as a young teenager. "Would I be the player I am now if I would have stayed? I think not," claims Olmo.
"In Croatia, it was another culture and I learned a lot physically. In Spain, it was more about the ball, especially at Barcelona when I was young in the academy. I learned things in Croatia. I also learned a lot of things here in Germany. It is all part of the process.
"But Croatia, in particular, helped me a lot. I was 16 and training with national team players who had played at World Cups. That was such a big step for me. It made me improve as a player physically and mentally because the game was faster and everything."
Were there no doubts when walking away from the prescribed path?
"Honestly, never," he adds. "I knew from the first day that this was my goal. Of course, there were good moments and not so good. This is normal. But after I started playing regularly when I was 18, playing in Europe, everything was perfect. I had made it."
His ties with Croatia continue to this day. When Olmo joined the Common Goal initiative, launched by compatriot Juan Mata in 2017, he chose to donate one per cent of his own salary in support of Cross Cultures, a charity helping victims of conflict.
"I have been collaborating with them for a long time. I wanted to help because I feel really attached to Croatia. As a player but as well as a person. I wanted to give back a little of what they gave me. I have had this opportunity to help. It is a nice experience for me."
His relationship with Leipzig is a growing one too. Earlier this summer, he signed a new contract until 2027. He felt wanted in 2020 when Julian Nagelsmann called him up and then sporting director Markus Krosche visited him in Zagreb. He feels wanted now.
"The project they had, the ambition to win things, to compete in the Bundesliga and also in the Champions League, is what I also wanted. I think I made a really good step. I am really happy here. We have more goals to achieve together. We are going to go for it."
That will be a challenge given the high-profile exits since the end of last season. Christopher Nkunku has joined Chelsea, Dominik Szoboszlai has signed for Liverpool and Josko Gvardiol, a team-mate at both Leipzig and Dinamo before that, has left for Manchester City.
"I will really miss him, yeah. Obviously, I was really close with him and also with Domi. Josko is a world-class player. For me, there is no doubt. He is 21 and he still has a lot to learn but this says a lot about him because at such a young age he is already like this."
Olmo is "really sure" Gvardiol will be a success at City. He describes Szoboszlai as a complete player too. "I have been talking with him, he is happy with it so it is going to be good for him, for sure." But what of his own career? What of the talented 25-year-old left behind?
"I am motivated," he says. "We lost a few players but we also got some new. This pre-season was good to start this chemistry on the pitch. It cannot be like last year where we knew each other really good but we are working on it. We are all young and ambitious."
Next summer, Euro 2024 comes to Germany and Olmo plans to be part of a Spain squad looking to add to their Nations League success. "I know they are going to play a few games here in Leipzig. It would be nice to play at home." But there are other targets first.
"For myself, to keep working on my strengths. To score more. Assist more. Help the team. The collective goal is to win. We have already won two cups two years in a row. We want to defend it. This is the goal, to defend the cup and to go for the Bundesliga."
Leipzig finished five points behind Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund last season, never really in the title race but tantalisingly close too. "It shows we can compete against everybody and that every point matters. We need to try to be more consistent."
If Leipzig are to do that, much will depend on grandmaster Olmo. Although his series with Poulsen is proving a challenge. "We are 5-4 this season. Yussi is winning. But you can put 5-5 and make it sound better," he jokes. Dani Olmo, always thinking a move ahead.
Watch Bayern Munich vs RB Leipzig in the DFL-Supercup on Saturday; kick-off 7.45pm
