Leeds United’s summer recruitment was already under the microscope, but one transfer blunder is becoming increasingly clear as the season unfolds. Daniel Farke’s recent admission about a player has now raised serious questions over a key decision made in the last window.
The goals from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Anton Stach and Noah Okafor last weekend at Molineux eased some of the pressure on Leeds and their recruitment team. The new signings came to the fore and earned the side important three points.
While Jayden Bogle is fit to play on Saturday, his injury against Wolves didn’t lead to any panic, as Leeds did sign James Justin for £10m as cover for the right-back position.
Leeds’ summer business is looking better than it seemed at the end of the transfer window, but Farke opened a can of worms around a certain player who was brought in to strengthen a key area of his squad.
Sebastiaan Bornauw seems to be a transfer blunder from Leeds
Leeds signed Jaka Bijol and Sebastiaan Bornauw in the summer as options to improve their defensive resources. Bijol was expected to start games, and Bornauw was the cover.
However, Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk’s performances early in the season have not allowed any other defender to dislodge them from the team yet.
Bijol has been an unused substitute on the bench and is yet to get a glimpse of any Premier League action this season. However, Bornauw’s situation is worse.
Leeds paid £5m to sign him from Wolfsburg, but he has failed to be in the Premier League matchday squads in the last two league games.
Farke admitted during the pre-match press conference ahead of the Bournemouth game that he cannot have two centre-backs on the bench in Premier League games.
The Leeds boss insisted that it is not Bornauw’s fault that he is not making the matchday squads, but conceded that he cannot afford to have him on the bench at the moment.
The transfer strategy was faulty
The arrival of two centre-backs early in the summer was an indication towards Leeds would lose a defender in the transfer window. Pascal Struijk received interest from Villarral, but the club decided against selling him.
With Struijk not getting solid, and Joe Rodon being one of the most durable defenders over the last two years, it was always going to be a challenge for any other centre-back to get into the team.
Bijol is a good cover for both centre-backs, but spending money on Bornauw seems like a luxury in hindsight.
By Leeds’ own admission, they spent each penny they could, but there are still gaps in the squad, especially in the frontline. That extra £5m and the wages could have gone towards signing one more attacking player towards the end of the window.
The Whites opted to pad out their squad rather than really improve their starting eleven in every area. The jury is out on whether that strategy would work eventually, but they could have signed one less centre-back in the summer.
Can you name these 10 former Leeds United midfielders?
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