For a large part of the summer, Leeds United fans thought they would end up with a big name striker like Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz. The Brazilian was not the only center forward linked with a move to Elland Road.
The likes of Nikola Krstovic, Callum Wilson and even Ermedin Demirovic were rumoured to be joining Leeds, but no deals materialized. The Whites ended up signing Lukas Nmecha and Dominic Calvert-Lewin on free transfers.
Many fans still feel another attacking piece should have been added near the end of the window, but the club will have to manage until at least January.
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Rodrigo Muniz speaks on Leeds United interest this summer
Rodrigo Muniz
Credit: Imago
Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz was one of the players at the top of Leeds’ list. The Whites had bids rejected for the Brazilian this summer, and were linked with him until the window closed.
Muniz scored on the opening day of the season, and recounting the events of the game on the Premier League’s YouTube channel, he admitted some interesting things. The Brazilian said that weeks before the season began, he was not in the right frame of mind. Muniz was linked with moves to Atalanta and Leeds but stayed at Fulham past the deadline – so he could have been referring to that.
“This game (opening day vs Brighton) was a little bit strange. Two weeks before, it was two tough weeks for me in the head.
“I went to the game because I’m a professional guy, I knew I was going to score, I knew I needed one chance to score and I scored in the last minute, it was really good.”
Why the Whites failed to land Brazilian striker
Leeds managing director Robbie Evans addressed local media about what went down in the summer window. One of the main reasons he gave for the club missing out on major targets like Muniz and El Khannouss was that they had maxed out PSR and thus, their spending for the summer.
“We spent everything we could. If we had gone onto other targets yesterday or onto higher price players back in July, the consequences would have been seen in the current roster, in terms of players we either could not add beyond the guys that got brought in – so the players that came in in August wouldn’t have come had those deals been made in July – or you’d see more key players from last year’s promotion side having to go.
“And so for us, there were only a handful of players that were worth even considering making those kinds of sales.
“And when those top players didn’t materialise, we held on to our key players instead.”
