Leeds United food chain theory reveals unlikely transfer window advantage as Whites eye four arrivals
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The Whites' residency in English football's second tier for a second consecutive season has impacted the club's attempts to conduct incoming business this summer, whilst weakening their hand in trying to retain some of last term's star men.
Leeds began the 2024/25 campaign without Crysencio Summerville, Archie Gray or Glen Kamara and have now lost Georginio Rutter to Brighton and Hove Albion after the triggering of a release clause in the Frenchman's Elland Road contract, all of whom have joined - or are expected to join - clubs in the top flight, either in England or France.
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Hide AdFootball is unlike most other businesses but it is hierarchical and those at the top are able to cherry-pick standouts from teams below them in the pyramid. That has, so far, been the long and short of Leeds' summer transfer window.
As the current transfer period nears its closure on Friday, August 30, there will become a reversing of roles whereby Leeds - a team further down the English football food chain - are given the opportunity to take their pick from divisions above.
On the opening weekend of the Premier League season, it did not take long before a controversial post purporting to be from Chelsea winger Raheem Sterling's camp was released to the public expressing frustration at the England international's omission from the matchday squad to face Manchester City.
It is at this particular stage of the window that coaches and managers begin to show who they intend to rely on for the coming season and whom is deemed expendable. Those Premier League players informed, one way or another, that they are unlikely to feature a great deal invariably contact their representatives and seek out an appropriate move.
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Hide AdLeeds did it last summer, signing five players in the final week of the transfer window, four of whom were surplus to requirements at their previous clubs. Joel Piroe was an outlier in this case, but the arrivals of Glen Kamara, Ilia Gruev, Jaidon Anthony and Djed Spence - the latter pair on loan - late in the window suggested Leeds had been patient in waiting for a time when it became apparent to the player their services would no longer be required at their existing clubs.
Granted, the signings of Anthony and Spence were hardly smash hits and if Leeds are planning similar incoming loan deals this summer, they need to get them right or risk accusations from supporters that leaving things late in the window jeopardised their best possible league finish.
Footballers want to play and the prospect of not doing so is enough to motivate many to up sticks and find somewhere they will.
While it may not feel like an advantage, Leeds have the smallest squad in the Championship and despite a tricky start to the campaign, remain one of the favourites to go up. Potential signings know there is a very realistic chance of regular minutes at Elland Road this season, as well as the potential for glory come the end of the year. To those on the periphery of Premier League squads, whether that be young players seeking to prove themselves, more experienced operators hoping to demonstrate they still have what it takes or simply those out-of-favour, Elland Road may appear an attractive proposition as their options narrow.
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Hide AdTalk of food chains and the hierarchical nature of English football is unlikely to satiate supporters' hunger for signings but in the coming days there is a firm belief that by the end of the window, Leeds will have more than 19 first-team players and a stronger, more equipped squad than the one which toiled to a scoreless draw at The Hawthorns on Saturday afternoon.
Daniel Farke listed four positions he hoped could be supplemented before next Friday's deadline: central midfield, full-back, winger and a more general 'offensive' player. He could not guarantee Leeds would get them all, which is far from encouraging, but the club do have the resources to make moves late in the window, where other sides who have already committed their budget to other signings, may not.
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