Leeds United summer transfer window loan clause clarity as Marathe addresses inherited 'bill'
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Though Leeds had a high number of players leave via loan release clauses following their 2023 relegation from the Premier League, the club is not facing a similar scenario in the upcoming transfer window and will retain a much greater degree of control over outgoing business. Alarm was raised among supporters following Sunday's play-off final defeat by Southampton at Wembley, given the lack of clarity around the clauses that allowed the likes of Jack Harrison, Max Wober, Marc Roca, Diego Llorente, Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen to leave on loan last summer, and whether or not they would simply reactivate upon Leeds' failure to get promoted. Roca has already gone on the record to state that he would be allowed to go on loan for another season if Leeds were not in the English top flight, but the YEP understands that is not the case for all of the loanees.
Regardless, club chairman Paraag Marathe believes Leeds are in a stronger position than they were when 49ers Enterprises first inherited the exit-clause mess last summer. "We have to sit down as a leadership team with Daniel to figure out which ones and how we manage all of that," he said. "I will say that fortunately, we don't have as many of those situations as we had last year, and also we aren't in a race against time, as we were last year at this point. I think we still were 12 days away from even finalising the transaction to take over the club, let alone starting our interview process for a manager so, you know, we have a lot more time to think about it.
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Hide Ad"It was difficult last year, having to deal with this, whether it's the loan clauses or the exits. It's maybe not as difficult anymore because now I've had a year to come to terms with it. You know, there are certain things we inherited that we will deal with in the best way that we can, and the folks that have those perennial loan clauses - we'll see how it transpires."
There is little prospect of a warm welcome back to Elland Road for those who raced to the exit door last summer from the fanbase, and Marathe believes the profile of the squad is among other considerations when it comes to the future of the loanees who are still contracted to Leeds.
"It's not just we're sitting back as the passive club just hoping a player doesn't reactivate or doesn't engage on his loan clause," he said. "We have some strength as well and we're looking at the chemistry of our squad. And it's not just about the talents on the pitch, but it's also about the chemistry of the squad and the mentality of the squad. And we want players down to a man who want to fight with us until the end, from the beginning to the end. And so that's really important. I know it's important to Daniel, it's important to me, and sometimes you might sacrifice on other things to make sure you have the right mentality in the squad."
The hope for Leeds, last summer, was that players like Aaronson - who cost around £25m - would perform well enough with their various loan clubs that their value would return to something much closer to what the Whites paid out for them. In some cases, however, it has been another disappointing or underwhelming campaign. Reports suggest Borussia Mönchengladbach do not see eye to eye on Leeds' valuation of Max Wober, who spent the season with the Bundesliga side. And Profit and Sustainability rules remain a serious consideration when it comes to booking a loss on any player. Marathe insists he is not unduly concerned. "I guess that remains to be seen [but] I'm not willing to concede that there will or will not be a profit on certain players," he said. "What I will tell you is we sort of came into this eyes wide open with what we are inheriting and yeah, it's true we inherited a credit card bill, we took it over. I've talked about it with you guys in the past. And we were ready. That's why we have the investment that we have and the commitment that we have. And so whether somebody yields or profit or not, we're going to be fine, and we're going to be able to do what we need to do to compete, to be the best team or one of the best teams on the pitch this coming season. That is not just my hope but my expectation."
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