Leeds United 'Strategy 2025' reveals transfer plan as Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester errors inform 'hybrid' approach

Leeds United's summer transfer business has come into focus lately as attentions turn to which areas of Daniel Farke's squad will be supplemented for the 2025/26 Premier League season.

The Whites were crowned champions last term, winning automatic promotion from the Championship after accruing an impressive 100 points.

Nevertheless, in order to be competitive in the top flight, Leeds' squad is expected to require significant additions in order to give the club a fighting chance of establishing themselves as a Premier League outfit once again.

United may look to last season's promoted trio as a case study of sorts. Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton spent over £120 million in initial fees, excluding loans, on new signings from Premier League clubs. However, the current Premier League table suggests that money was not well-spent as all three are returning to the Championship next season.

Which players were made available at Premier League clubs last summer?

Additions included the likes of Oliver Skipp, who joined Leicester City permanently from Tottenham Hotspur in a £20 million transfer and Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, who swapped Arsenal for St. Mary's Stadium in an initial £18 million deal; few can be described as success stories.

Odsonne Edouard and Maxwel Cornet joined Leicester and Southampton on loan, respectively. The former has played just 142 minutes of league football this year for the Foxes, failing to score, while Cornet's spell on the south coast was cut short in January after two outings for the Saints.

There were free transfer moves as well with Adam Lallana returning to Southampton and Bobby De Cordova-Reid signing for Leicester, but the bulk of the transfers concerned involved fees.

It is often suggested that a promoted team's best way of maintaining themselves in the top flight beyond their initial season back in the big time is to sign proven Premier League quality, players with knowledge of the league. On the face of it, this past season's evidence suggests business is slightly more nuanced than that.

While Leicester and Southampton added players from across Europe as well as the Premier League, Ipswich went down a more domestic route, signing several new faces from Championship clubs. It is likely to give the Tractor Boys an advantage in the second tier next season, with an immediate bounceback likely, but the Suffolk club have found themselves bested in the majority of fixtures this term.

Leeds' own transfer success stories in recent seasons have been varied in terms of their origin. The likes of Ao Tanaka, signed from Germany's second tier, Willy Gnonto, formerly of Swiss Super League outfit FC Zurich, and Georginio Rutter, previously of German side TSG Hoffenheim were a reflection of good European scouting on United's behalf.

Other signings such as Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Joel Piroe, Jayden Bogle and Manor Solomon (loan) have been acquired from fellow British clubs, drawing on transfer chiefs' contact books within the English game to help broker deals.

Leeds are likely to follow a similar strategy this summer, employing a hybrid approach as opposed to finding themselves solely wedded to the domestic or wider European market.

Premier League quality will not come cheap which is perhaps why Leicester, Southampton and Ipswich may take the view they overpaid for sub-standard additions, a position shared by play-off winning Saints head coach Russell Martin. That could be where European scouting, the kind which unearthed Tanaka, comes in handy, allowing Leeds to sign players for certain positions at a lower price point than their equivalent, already established within the English game.

Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton summer 2024 signings breakdown - league of previous club:

17: Premier League - (incl. five loans)

9: EFL Championship

2: Italian Serie A - (incl. one loan)

2: Portuguese Primeira Liga

1: Dutch Eredivisie

1: Spanish LaLiga

1: Belgian Pro League

1: EFL League One

34: Total

(4: Loans made permanent)

Of the 34 first-team signings made by newly-promoted clubs last summer, half were Premier League players and over three-quarters were playing domestically during 2023/24. The limited few considered good signings include Mateus Fernandes, who left Sporting Clube de Portugal for Southampton and is likely to move on again this summer and Ipswich's Liam Delap who finds himself in a similar boat to the aforementioned Brazilian but had been playing in the Championship prior to this year's Premier League breakthrough.

Hardly any of the Premier League players who signed for the now-relegated trio last summer, if any at all, worked out, which could serve as a something of a cautionary tale for the Whites this summer. That is, if divisional rivals are making players available at a palatable price, there's probably a good reason for it.

However, Premier League intensity has been found to supersede that of other top European leagues, which means whilst there is value to be had on the continent, a Euro-centric reliance on recruitment may be the other side of the coin and lean too far one way. Leeds supporters know all too well the dangers of supplementing a lower-half-of-the-table squad with players lacking Premier League experience signed exclusively from abroad.

During 2022/23, Leeds made no first-team additions from fellow English clubs and come the end of the season paid the price. The Whites signed off on 10 senior arrivals over the course of two transfer windows that year and until recently found themselves encumbered with high-salary, low-impact players, some of whom were playing elsewhere on loan due to relegation escape clauses.

Leeds United 2022/23 signings breakdown - league of previous club:

3: German Bundesliga

3: Austrian Bundesliga

1: Dutch Eredivisie

1: Swiss Super League

1: Spanish LaLiga

1: Italian Serie A

So, what will Leeds do this summer?

In summary, the club's strategy this summer is perhaps best informed by the Whites' own recent market experience and a case study of last season's promoted sides who were all but relegated with months of the season to spare. Lessons will hopefully have been learned from Leeds' last Premier League summer window but only time will tell if 'Strategy 2025' pays dividends or ultimately falls short like so many promoted teams before them.