He won me over in seven minutes: the summer's most romantic move

There are transfers that make perfect sense purely from a sporting perspective. And then there are transfers that make every football romantic’s heart beat faster. Leonardo Bittencourt’s move to Energie Cottbus definitely belongs in the latter category.

At the tender age of five, he started playing organized football in Lusatia. From there, he went through every youth team at the club, made his 2. Bundesliga debut at 17, and was quickly regarded as one of the biggest talents Energie produced in the 2000s. Almost inevitably, he moved to Borussia Dortmund in 2012, then the reigning domestic double winners. Spells at Hannover 96, 1. FC Köln, TSG Hoffenheim, and seven formative years at Werder Bremen followed. The record: 304 Bundesliga matches, 32 goals, 36 assists.

Wollitz on Bittencourt: “He conveyed love”

And yet his path has now led him back home. The now 32-year-old certainly had other options. “I had six or seven offers on the table this summer, including from abroad,” Bittencourt recently revealed in an interview with ’11Freunde’. So the opportunities were there. But then, all of a sudden, the phone rang.

On the other end was Energie coach Claus-Dieter “Pele” Wollitz. “Pele needed seven minutes — then he had me,” Bittencourt said. The coach had simply asked him to at least give Energie Cottbus some thought before making a decision. Apparently, that was all it took. “I immediately remembered the feeling. The passion, the joy of playing. For me, it was clear: I want to play under Pele again.”

📸 Christof Koepsel – 2011 Getty Images

That comes as little surprise. The two share a bond that goes far beyond the usual relationship between coach and player. Wollitz was the one who first brought the teenager into first-team training and gave him his debut in 2011. “From day one, he came onto the pitch with an aura,” the coach recalls. “We all love playing football, but Leo gave off a sense of love.”

Father Franklin was moved to tears

Perhaps that is exactly the heart of this story. Bittencourt is not returning because Cottbus offers the most glamorous sporting outlook. Quite the opposite: after twelve years away from the 2. Bundesliga, survival will be the one and only goal for the East Germans. Bittencourt is also not returning to cash in on one last big contract.

He is returning because of a feeling. When he told his father Franklin — also an Energie legend — about his plans to come back, “he had to cry,” Bittencourt reports. It doesn’t get any more football-romantic than that.

Fittingly, his second spell in Cottbus begins with a clash against Hannover 96 — a club the midfielder also played for for two years. But this time, the circle is complete. An incredible 14 years after his departure, the prodigal son is back in Lusatia.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.