Mainz Bayern loanee Sieb did not have a “home” at former club RB

Mainz/Leipzig – Armindo Sieb is a player for FC Bayern Munich. And he is from Halle, he grew up in the Silberhöhe area. From there, the young national player took a bumpy road through spells at RB Leipzig and Hoffenheim to become a German record champion. The 21-year-old is currently on loan to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Leipzig’s opponent on Saturday (3:30pm/Sky). Ahead of the duel, RBlive reporter Martin Henkel spoke to the attacking player about his childhood in a socially disadvantaged area, Neymar’s exploits on the football pitch and Ralf Rangnick’s defensive hand.

Former RBler Sieb: “The Silberhöhe is my home”

Armindo, you come from the Silberhöhe district in Halle. A prefabricated housing area that sociologists call a “hot spot”. What does your old hood mean to you?
Armindo Sieb: (laughs). Hood is good. The Silberhöhe was my home until I was ten or eleven years old. I grew up there and that shaped me. I am proud of my origin. A lot of people probably don’t understand what it’s like to grow up there. But we got life done.

How much money is the football player Armindo Sieb?
I felt like I was at every football field, really all of them. I learned a lot about football there, a lot of basics.

What can you learn but on the football field?
On the football field you try to make your own name, who you want to be. That’s a big boost. Back then, I wanted to leave my name on every chair. Every skill, every trick I picked up or learned, I took with me and used. That always worked really well. And honestly, I’m not saying that to brag: I felt like I won every game.

Neymar’s role model

What was your best trick?
Maybe I have to say: In the cage, on the football field, there is no pressure on you. You can lose the game, it’s okay. So we were able to try all the tricks we wanted. I didn’t have a favorite trick, but I was good at the Rainbow.

Leverage the ball over your head with your heels?
Yes, that one.

Where did you copy it from?
Neymar.

When you were eleven, you moved from the football field to the RB Leipzig academy. What is it like meeting the team from your old training club?
There are fewer emotions than you might think. I don’t think anyone there remembers me either. I was very young. But the station is very important for my career because I started dreaming at RB.

Rangnick’s protective hand

Why did you only stay for three years?
The years were great, but there were also difficult times. I had a difficult time. There were many reasons for this. I went to Leipzig completely, with boarding school, changing schools, everything. And I come from a home where there was always a lot going on. That’s why school sometimes hurt me; there were only those from boarding school in the class. So I did other things than pay attention. Of course that was not welcome at RB.

At the time, Ralf Rangnick was entirely responsible for football. Former teacher, sometimes very strict.
I am very grateful to Ralf Rangnick. He took me aside and took me by the hand when things weren’t going so well. He believed in me.

It didn’t stop you when you moved to Hoffenheim?
I never got to Leipzig. There were school issues and I didn’t feel at home. I really wanted to give up football back then, I wanted my old life back. So I left RB.

Popcorn in the cinema

Who or what played the main role in Armindo Sieb not leaving football?
Armindo Sieb himself, I think. Two weeks after I left RB, I realized that I missed football and wanted to be a professional. My mentor then sent me to Hoffenheim through a tour.

Where you introduced yourself in RB style.
(laughs) You mean the popcorn story?

And.
We went to the cinema with the class at the time. The movie was boring so we started throwing popcorn. I wasn’t alone, but he caught me.

After three years at Hoffenheim, FC Bayern, Germany’s most successful club, bought them. What were you thinking?
It must be said that there were offers from other big clubs at the time, so it was a bit longer process before I thought about the next right step and decided on Bayern. So this change didn’t happen overnight.

Rainbow on the football field

Were RB Leipzig among those interested?
To be honest, I don’t remember for sure, but moving back wouldn’t have made sense to me at the time. My time in Leipzig had not been so long at that time and I just wanted to do something new. But RB is a top club and you have to recognize that.

Bayern loaned you to Mainz 05 for two years this summer. If you had the chance to keep yourself for the next three or four years: how would it go?
I want to stay injury-free, I want to play as many Bundesliga games as possible, I want to collect as many scoring points. I hope my path continues in the top five leagues in Europe. And that I will be a good player. I would like to leave footprints.

Have you ever shown the rainbow in a game?
(laughs) No, he stayed at the football field.