'Spending big' - Graham Smyth makes three Leeds United transfer predictions
Leeds United lead journalist Graham Smyth has been sharing his views on the transfer window
There was some frustration for Leeds United earlier this week after they made a promising start to their summer transfer window business.
There have been a number of outgoings since Daniel Farke’s men clinched the Championship title and a return to the Premier League league on the final day of last season. Junior Firpo and Josuha Guilavogui both departed after their contracts came to a close, Rasmus Kristensen completed a permanent switch to Eintracht Frankfurt after spending last season on loan with the Bundesliga club and former Whites team-mate Max Wober joined Werder Bremen on a season-long loan after spending last season with their league rivals Borussia Monchengladbach.
New faces have arrived in the form of defensive trio Jaka Bijol, Gabriel Gudmundsson and Sebastiaan Bornauw and Wolfsburg forward Lukas Nmecha, who was snapped up on a free transfer as the Whites saw off competition from a number of fellow admirers of the former Manchester City forward.
It has been widely reported a midfielder is next on the list of priorities for the Elland Road hierarchy - but their attempts to boost Farke’s options in the middle of the park were frustrated earlier this week when a bid for Newcastle United star Sean Longstaff said to be worth an initial £10 million was rejected by the St James Park club. Hoffenheim midfielder Anton Stach is believed to be another target - but reports in Germany have suggested the Bundesliga outfit will only consider bids of above £17 million for the twice-capped Germany international.
That has led to a conversation over what would be viewed as overpaying during the remainder of the summer transfer window and how the Whites should piece together the next phase of their recruitment plans ahead of their return to the top flight of English football.
Graham Smyth makes Leeds United transfer predictions
“I feel like Leeds are caught in this tension of not wanting to overpay," the YEP’s Graham Smyth said on our Inside the Elland Road podcast as he gave his take on what could lie ahead. "I think what they’re trying to do is save money for the top end of the pitch where they’re going to have to spend big.
“Spend big on a striker, and possibly a No.10, and probably a winger. Those players cost the earth, generally. So, you don’t want your kind of unsexy, athletic, runs around a lot, will tackle a lot, fine on the ball — you don’t want them to cost you £15 million upwards, do you? You don’t want to be spending £30 million on a player that’s not really going to be a match-winner for you. Probably not? The other thing that they are battling with is time. Because they go to the training camp in Germany. You really want to have a couple of faces in before then.
“You don’t want to be playing too many pre-season games thinking, ‘well, he’s not going to start, he’s not going to start, and these are placeholders’. Because the team’s not gelling then. You’re not getting that cohesion. You’re starting to run the risk of not hitting the ground running at the start of the season.
“If they get the right players in, and they stick to their guns all summer and don't overpay, I think it would be incredibly admirable and sensible. And we’ll look back on it and say, ‘Fair play. Well done. You showed resolve and you didn’t put the club in financial peril and you saved money for the right players.’ But, if they don’t get the right players in or it runs too late into August and get off to a poor start, it will reflect very poorly indeed. So, it’s all about — the end is going to justify the means."
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