The Austrian Bundesliga has throughout the past decade developed into a perfect "nest" for young Scandinanvian players eager to develop their talent and prompt a move to one of Europe's four biggest leagues.
Currently there are five Danish players playing their trade in the Austrian Bundesliga with great success and Rouven Schröder praises Scandinavian players for their dedication and professionalism and encourages Nordic clubs to maintain a steady stream of players heading for Salzburg for the benefit of all parties:
"We have a long history of Scandinavian players and players from the region in Salzburg and have had good experiences with them. The guys work very purposefully and professionally and are fully committed to our club. That is very positive for everyone involved", says Rouven Schröder.
Young players are today increasingly often given the chance to move to big clubs where the pressure may be significantly higher to develop at a faster pace than what is the case in Austria. Before the arrival of Maurits Kjaergaard, Adam Daghim and Mads Bidstrup at RB Salzburg, Norwegian international Erling Haaland used RB Salzburg as the perfect grooming spot before moving on to a significantly bigger stage at Borussia Dortmund.
"In many cases, it makes absolute sense for young, talented players not to move to a big league straight away. We've had good experiences with this at FC Red Bull Salzburg, with Erling Haaland, Karim Adeyemi and Dominik Szoboszlai, to name just a few."
"The boys can develop in a calmer environment, with very good infrastructure, under a little less pressure and play for titles early on. At this very good level, however, they also have the opportunity to make mistakes, learn from them and get better. And when that happens, we give them the opportunity to move to a bigger club despite a long-term contract", says Rouven Schröder.
Rasmus Hojlund as well as Mika Biereth both used the Austrian Bundesliga and Sturm Graz as superb stepping stones to secure lucrative moves to Manchester United and AS Monaco respectively, and Rouven Schröder says their much-discussed transfers will no doubt tempt more youngsters to consider the Austrian Bundesliga in an attempt to fulfill their career goals.
"These players definitely have a special role model effect because it's about telling stories and creating images in people's minds. If these guys get their training with us and then go on to a top club, that's absolutely helpful for us. If you don't have that, it's much more difficult to convince players to come to us".
The RB Salzburg sports director underlines that there are lots of similarities in mentality and playing style between Denmark and Austria which makes it easier for youngsters to adopt to a new culture and new club. At the same time, the Champions League club goes to great lengths to make young Scandinavians setlle more easily into life at Salzburg.
"I think that you can compare the two leagues quite well in terms of strength. Both leagues have several top clubs that are playing for the title, which increases the overall quality. This also makes a move from Denmark to Austria easy to implement, because the quality and playing strength is nothing new."
"At FC Red Bull Salzburg we are a multi-cultural club and have players from 14 countries. It is therefore extremely important that we accompany them away from the field and support them with their private issues so that they feel comfortable in Salzburg."
RB Salzburg are currently third in the Austria Bundesliga and will face Blau-Weizz Linz on Sunday in the Austrian Bundesliga.