A brutal shoulder injury halts the rising star’s comeback after just 35 minutes, forcing surgery and costing the midfielder a prestigious spot in Jürgen Klopp’s Germany squad.
For Assan Ouédraogo, the timing could hardly be crueler.
The RB Leipzig midfielder had finally returned to the pitch after another spell on the sidelines, only for his comeback to last just 35 minutes against Hamburg. A collision with HSV midfielder Albert Grønbaek left Ouédraogo with another right shoulder injury, and this time there is no short-term solution: the 20-year-old needs surgery and is now expected to miss the remainder of 2026.
According to BILD, Leipzig internally expects Ouédraogo to return at the earliest in January.
The club itself has confirmed that the shoulder injury will be treated surgically and that he will be unavailable until further notice. The injury is a capsule problem in the right shoulder.
Another painful interruption for a player whose enormous potential has repeatedly been overshadowed by his battles with injury.
Ouédraogo arrived at Leipzig from Schalke in 2024 as one of German football's most exciting young midfielders. Since then, however, his development has repeatedly been disrupted. He had already missed more than 380 days through injury since joining Leipzig, with knee and thigh problems among the issues that have kept him out.
What makes this latest setback particularly difficult is what had just been beginning to happen around him.
Assan had returned from a previous shoulder problem only days before the Hamburg match, making his comeback from the bench in Leipzig's Champions League defeat to Como. He was then handed a starting role against HSV, only to leave the field in the 35th minute.
And there was another opportunity waiting.
Jürgen Klopp's first Germany squad included three Leipzig players in David Raum, Ridle Baku, and Brajan Gruda. Ouédraogo was supposed to be part of that conversation too. In fact, Klopp told BILD that the youngster would have been selected, describing him as an "extraordinary player" and a "huge talent."
Instead, the first Klopp era will begin without him.
The setback also leaves Leipzig without one of their most highly regarded young midfielders at a time when the squad is already dealing with significant absences. Christoph Baumgartner and Rocco Reitz are also sidelined, although BILD reports that Leipzig expect both to return later this year.
Interestingly, the club has decided against bringing in an additional free agent to cover Ouédraogo's absence. BILD reports that Leipzig considered the available market but has opted to trust the players already in the squad, with Ezechiel Banzuzi, Neil El Aynaoui, Andrija Maksimovic, Brajan Gruda, and Christopher Nkunku among the options available in central and attacking midfield.
That decision puts even more responsibility on the players who remain.
For Ouédraogo, though, the immediate focus is elsewhere. There is no need to rush the next comeback. Leipzig have said they will give him the time and support required to recover properly, while Klopp has already made clear that the door to Germany remains open.
The cruel part is that Ouédraogo had just started to see the road ahead opening up again.
Now he has to begin the climb once more.
