Last summer, Leeds United had a sort of clear out of their squad. That summer saw the exit of multiple players, with most of them having passed their time at the club.
There were a number of expired contracts, most of them having been signed by Victor Orta. Others were just poor transfers that were offloaded by the club that summer.
Simply moving on some of these players created a lot of space in the squad, and on the wage bill. This summer, Leeds are anticipated to make some sales.
QUIZ: Can you name these 10 former Leeds United players?
Finance expert praises Leeds United transfers
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So far, Illan Meslier, Joe Gelhardt, Darko Gyabi and Sam Greenwood are the players the club are actively looking to sell. Leeds want to move on from the latter players, as they feel they will not break into the first team anytime soon. The club also need the PSR profit.
Football finance expert Dan Plumley has spoken on how strict deals like this are when you are a Premier League club:
“It’s another example of how big the gap is both in financial terms and in player terms,” he told MOT Leeds News.
“If you’ve got players that would probably be in that squad and in and around the team in the Championship, that’s not necessarily the case in the Premier League.
“And, if you are going to bring players in, then you do have to shift players on, and you can look at that as being a ruthless way to do business, but, if you could get a decent amount of money for those players and it’s two or three, that can quickly become £10-15 million.
“It does then make an impact, and ultimately I think that comes down to the squad that you’re trying to look to create in the Premier League, and we’ve seen this season, haven’t we, with the three that have gone up and have come straight back down.
“A couple of those clubs have spent money, so the calibre of players that you’re looking at is just in a completely different league in the Premier League, and that’s the gap on and off the pitch.”
Premier League business moves fast
Leeds are now in the top flight, and should be moving accordingly. The club should be doing business quickly, and moving on from deals that seem to be dragging. It avoids wasting time that could be used to focus on other signings.
Especially when there is not really anytime between pre-season and the start of the campaign.
