Leeds United were in quite a position this summer transfer window. The Whites were struggling to replace both Crysencio Summerville and Archie Gray among others.
There were many players linked with The 49ers but very few actually signed for Leeds. Amongst the big names, there was one Premier League player who just flew under the radar.
In The Square Ball Podcast, Leeds United CEO Angus Kinnear revealed that they tried to sign a Premier League attacker among other big names this summer.
Aston Villa star Emiliano Buendía was one of the players on The Whites’ radar. However, The 49ers were out of luck as The Lions weren’t keen on the prospect of selling the Argentine international.
Kinnear also mentioned that the club’s main goal was to retain and buy players who were serious about playing for the club. The CEO was surprised that most of the players were keen on making the jump to the Premier League.
One of the things which has been a theme across the summer is getting to players who really wanted to play for Leeds United. That’s really hard because it surprised me how much players want to play in the Premier League versus the Championship.
-Angus Kinnear via The Square Ball Podcast
QUIZ: Can you name the Leeds game these 10-goal celebrations are from?
Challenges faced by Leeds United in The Championship
Emiliano Buendía wasn’t interested in moving down to The Championship
One of the major challenges faced by The 49ers this season was player retention and acquisition. This was due to the fact that The Whites played in the second tier of English football.
Buendía was on our list, and very clearly (the feedback) from Aston Villa (was that he) wasn’t going to be released, and the player didn’t want to come back down. He felt he’d served his time at Championship level.
-Angus Kinnear via The Square Ball Podcast
Buendía has had previous experience in The Championship with Norwich City. Currently, plying his trade with Aston Villa, the Argentine’s parent club weren’t ready to sell the player.
The Lions envision him in the club’s long-term goals and the former Spanish U19 international had also recently made a comeback from a knee injury.
Emiliano himself wasn’t interested in going down citing the fact that he had already spent quite some time in the English second tier. This was a major theme throughout Elland Road this summer.
Players like Summerville, Gray and Kamara left to find new pastures at first-division clubs. Both Summerville and Gray left for Premier League clubs whereas Kamara finds himself in France playing for Ligue 1 club Rennes.
