Leeds United spent close to £100million this summer, and still failed to find a marquee signing in attack. The club had laid out their plan for the summer transfer window.
The early weeks of summer were dedicated to signing defenders and midfielders. Sean Longstaff, Jaka Bijol and Anton Stach all arrived during training camp, allowing them to adapt to the team early. According to Leeds insiders, the plan was to bolster the quality and depth around the backline and midfield and save the big money transfers for attackers.
But getting to the end of the window, Leeds saw their top targets all falling out of their grasp. The Whites lost out on Igor Paixao, Rodrigo Muniz, Bilal El Khannouss, Facundo Buonanotte and Harry Wilson.
When asked why Leeds failed to splash the cash on these names, managing director Robbie Evans said the club had ”maxed out” PSR.
QUIZ: Can you name the Leeds game these 10 goal celebrations are from?
[freshpress-quiz id=”32633″]
Nikola Krstovic off to a great start at Atalanta
Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Credit: Imago Images
Nikola Krstovic was a name that was heavily linked to Leeds United in the middle of the window. He was one of the strikers the club had their eye on even after signing Lukas Nmecha. The former Lecce man had a spectacular season in Serie A and his club wanted a fee of around £22million. Leeds danced around the figure, and never reached an initial agreement before moving on to other targets.
Atalanta swooped in at the end of the window and landed the 25-year old. His first two games to start the Serie A season have been phenomenal. Krstovic provided two assists in his debut against Lecce and scored a brace against Torino this weekend – four goal involvements in two games.
If the 49ers had been more ambitious, he could have been in a Leeds jersey this season.
Leeds United have full confidence in Calvert-Lewin
By all accounts, Leeds United are very fine with Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Daniel Farke himself said he was very happy with the striker and has continued to say that the former Everton man will play a big part in this season.
BBC Radio Leeds’ Adam Pope said that Calvert-Lewin was his Man of the Match in the win over Wolves.
“My man of the match was Calvert-Lewin,” Pope told the Don’t Go To Bed Just Yet podcast.
“His attitude and confidence said ‘even if I don’t score, I’ll be fine’. His performance was fantastic from everywhere and having players like that in your team who know the Premier League makes such a difference.”
I have to admit I was one of the panickers wondering where the goals will come from. The team look like they have a very close bond and fighting hard for each other and 3 very well taken goals. However, I’m not getting carried away as Wolves looked very fragile and with zero points so far, not a great team for comparison. The next couple of games will really show where Leeds are at. Bournemouth will be a tough test, but Leeds can beat them if they play at their best. MOT.