Leeds United managed to land most of their key targets in this transfer window. Very early on reports emerged from club sources about key targets including Julian Brandt and Shea Charles.
It was believed the club was looking to strengthen the midfield.
After Harry Wilson was signed, many expected the club to press on and land the other two players.
But it was not to be as both Brandt and Charles ended up at different clubs despite the strong approach from the 49ers. Brandt ended up choosing to join Ajax, and upon joining, revealed he had talks with the club for months before making his decision.
The saga with Shea Charles however, was much different.
Leeds United chief Robbie Evans details Shea Charles pursuit
Shea Charles
Credit: Imago
Leeds United had two bids rejected initially by Southampton.
So the club prepared a third and final bid, which was also rejected. The 49ers decided to leave their last offer on the table to see if the Saints would revisit it later in the window, but they did not.
Fulham ended up swooping in to sign the 22-year old. Leeds managing director Robbie Evans opened up on the transfer pursuit.
”We had our overall squad-building goals, we had our financial parameters, and we had a view on where we could fit the player in terms of the sacrifices or compromises elsewhere that have to happen because of him.” he told The Athletic.
”At some point, you hit a point where it felt like it’s not the right thing for us to do, and so you walk away from that. Again, that was more of a market opportunity. There weren’t a lot of players in midfield we felt had the right age, profile, and fit to go after.”
”When we didn’t get that one, it wasn’t an urgent need to go and sign a midfielder because our midfield is quite strong, actually. It was worth looking into, and we did, and then at some point it felt like it was no longer the right value for us, and the best move was to have the discipline to walk away.”
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Leeds were right to maintain their stance in the summer window
With Shea Charles and other transfers the Whites stood their ground on, it was a very good decision by the club.
Leeds made their stance clear on signing Charles, and Southampton did not budge. The Saints then got a team willing to pay his transfer fee and sanctioned the move.
The Whites also stood firm on moves for Joel Piroe and Largie Ramazani.
Clubs wanted ‘cheaper’ deals to sign the duo, but the 49ers ended up getting very good loan deals with obligations to buy.
So it is not a great disappointment that Leeds failed to sign Charles, considering how well they did with other transfer business.
