'Simple as that' - Ex-Leeds United hero on Whites transfers and Juventus Weston McKennie insight

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I am absolutely delighted with Leeds United's acquisition of Weston McKennie, writes TONY DORIGO.

We have been playing with a 4-2-3-1 this season but at times we have swapped that to a 4-3-3. When we have done that, Mateusz Klich or Sam Greenwood have come into the midfield and played but it hasn' quite been working as we would have liked.

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But with Klichy going, the McKennie move is just perfect because we need that box to box player. We were linked with various people but McKennie was the one that I wanted and I am delighted that we have got him because I have seen a lot of him at Juventus and I know exactly what he can do. Also, he's got the physicality and that's a big difference as well. He is a big strong boy and strong in the air but he has got that ability as well.

When you look at how he played for Juventus, they kept swapping their midfield around as well as they looked for the right formation for them. But McKennie always impressed me every single time. He was a threat going forward, a really hard worker and you can add to the fact that obviously we have the Americans with us already and Tyler Adams in midfield. It's a match made in heaven.

IMPRESSIVE: Weston McKennie for Juventus says Whites title-winner Tony Dorigo. Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images.IMPRESSIVE: Weston McKennie for Juventus says Whites title-winner Tony Dorigo. Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images.
IMPRESSIVE: Weston McKennie for Juventus says Whites title-winner Tony Dorigo. Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images.

His arrival gives the option of playing three midfielders across the middle. At times, Jesse might still go with a 4-2-3-1 but the option is certainly there for a 4-3-3 which is how we went in the December friendlies when we tried to look at how we would play against Manchester City with that third player in there.

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At certain times, that will be the right thing to do and McKennie gives us that option but I am sure he can play one or two other positions as well. In his backstory, he played all around the place when he went to Germany and I am sure he is pretty flexible in that respect as well.

Leeds have effectively spent around £70m factoring in what it will cost to make McKennie's move permanent in the summer and that's a fantastic January, it's as simple as that. I just look back to the previous Januarys and what we have done and we certainly escaped by the skin of our teeth last season when the January window was a time when we thought we might get one or two in. It's very easy I think for everyone to spend the club's money but someone has to put that money up. But it's difficult and the club clearly means business, simple as that.

It was an important time to go out and get one or two but we have done better than that as we have got three. I think the Diego Llorente to Roma deal was a good bit of business too and it just adds to what has been a very good window.

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Of course, we need to hit the ground running with those new players but I have seen Max Wober two or three times now and I think he is superb. I think he will be a really important player in the second half of the season.

We also got a first sight of new record signing Georginio Rutter in Saturday's FA Cup clash at Accrington which was probably the worst game he could have played in given their style and everything else and what he wants to do. But he did great. You could see that he wanted to get the ball down and he wanted to take players on. He was eager to close down and more importantly he has got that quality in the last third.

Some of the balls he sent through were superb and he was unlucky with one or two efforts himself and that was against a League One side who just wanted to stop us playing. I thought he did very well and then you have got McKennie who is quality. He has played Champions League, I've seen him a lot and he will certainly add to it so I think the window has been a superb one, simple as that.

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The remaining talk in the final throes of transfer deadline day was about Jack Harrison and the interest from Leicester City. You look now at all the options that we have got going forward and suddenly there's a load. We've got another option for each and every position but we also know that we can get injuries and if we get two or three of those then we are back to the problems that we had before.

It's a balancing act, balancing the books and also balancing the players within the squad. Jack is a wonderfully talented player who goes through ups and downs I suppose in his form. But what I've seen in January has been really good. He has been excellent and back towards his best. There is no doubt that previous to that he has struggled at times and been left out once or twice. But what I have seen recently has been really good and you know that he will always give 100. He's a real asset, absolutely.