Leeds United had a mixed summer transfer window after losing key stars, but they managed to bring in a few players to provide optimism for this season.
The Whites sit in fourth place in the championship after consecutive victories over Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City. Goals from Joel Piroe and Mateo Joseph were enough to secure a 2-0 win in their last game at Elland Road.
The discussion about how Leeds fared in the summer transfer window has been mixed, with some praising the business and others slamming the board and Daniel Farke.
Leeds United’s transfer business
The Whites lost a lot of key players this summer including Georginio Rutter, Archie Gray, and Crysencio Summerville. Some would say Leeds should be proud of raising up to €120million for the young trio. The club also lost Luis Sinisterra and Glenn Kamara, who was a reliable option in midfield last season.
Leeds were able to bring in Joe Rodon on a permanent deal, and added Largie Ramazani, Jayden Bogle and Ao Tanaka, while signing Manor Solomon on loan.
BBC Leeds journalist Adam Pope believes Leeds’ summer business was underwhelming simply because there are question marks surrounding the level of players brought in:
“We often use this expression about the signings being in isolation, or the sales being in isolation, or results in isolation.” Pope said on his podcast.
“I still stand by it, I think the window is still a little bit underwhelming because we just don’t know of the quality of the players and how they are going to do.
“However, on first sight, hopefully, the recruitment team have gone out and got the players that are going to adapt very quickly to this level.”
Leeds transfer window ended on confusing note
Despite securing the signings of Solomon, Tanaka and Schmidt during the final week of the window, multiple deals failed to materialize for Leeds United.
The reported move for Burnley winger Manuel Benson did not happen, nor did the move for SC Freiburg forward Roland Sallai. This was disappointing news as it was widely reported that Daniel Farke wanted to add one or two players to the squad.
Leeds went into this campaign with Patrick Bamford currently the backup striker to Mateo Joseph and Joel Piroe. The prospect of relying on Bamford to score goals to push the Whites toward promotion this season is something Frank McAvennie is not excited about:
“He’s been their man for ages, can he still do that? From what I’ve seen of Patrick, I don’t think so, unless he steps up,”
“He’s not shown me that he can score 20 goals this year, if he can do it or they bring someone in who can they’ll be in the Premier League next year.”
