Some improvement no doubt but clearly short of a few class players. Why it has not been addressed is beyond me.
Players in: Lewis Baker (Chelsea, loan), Jamal Blackman (Chelsea, loan), Barry Douglas (Wolves, undisclosed), Jack Harrison (Manchester City, loan), Patrick Bamford (Middlesbrough, undisclosed)
Players out: Madger Gomes (Sochaux, undisclosed), Felix Wiedwald (Eintracht Frankfurt, undisclosed), Marcus Antonsson (Malmo, undisclosed), Andy Lonergan (released), Mallik Wilks (Doncaster, loan), Paudie O'Connor (Blackpool, loan), Tyler Denton (Peterborough, loan), Jay-Roy Grot (VVV Venlo, loan), Pawel Cibicki (Molde, loan), Lewie Coyle (Fleetwood, loan), Luke Murphy (Bolton, free), Ronaldo Vieira (Sampdoria, undisclosed), Hadi Sacko (Las Palmas, loan)
Personally think once we've got shot of O'Kane who I'm surprised hasn't got interest as he would be a good enough player for a low level champ team imo and Ekuban who I reckon a club could still take a loan punt on him we have got rid of a lot of dead weight + loaned out some who could turn good so we lose nothing there.
Add a few more: CB, Winger and another striker (at a minimum) and I think we are in good shape. Think we are 2 cbs short as I still think calamity Cooper is a disaster waiting to happen in an attacking team where he will be under pressure so we need that.
Anyways onwards and upwards, looking forward to Sunday got tickets to Stoke and Bolton sorted.
Some improvement no doubt but clearly short of a few class players. Why it has not been addressed is beyond me.
Tough one to answer in fairness especially after last year, when we got off to a flyer and then disappeared without trace.
Overall, I think the quality of the squad has improved, especially with so much dross being shipped out. I am in agreement that we could possibly do with a couple of more signings in case of injuries to key players/positions i.e. CB/CM/Striker, would be very impressed and surprised if we got them tonight.
Some of the youngsters that played in pre season did impress, thinking Edmundson, Roberts (at times) Clarke and Shackleton, so perhaps there is more quality in the ranks still to be utilized.
Summary: World Cup year, a late(ish) managerial appointment, some tough negotiations have taken place - think we done quite well taking all that into consideration.
Worried about the centrehalve situation.
Sorry, i mean very worried.
I concur. We were poor defensively last year and now we only have Jansson and Cooper! I know Bielsa is trying to say Berardi is good enough as a centre back but he really isn't. At moment all it will take (without Jansson) to undo us is a few crosses into box or a long ball
Now the dust is settled, I am actually disappointed with our efforts during this transfer window. We did sign 2 quality players on permanent transfers and a couple of loans. We spend approx £10 million on the permanent transfer and then off set this with the sale of Vieira for close to £8 million.
The rumoured warchest was £10 million from season ticket sales & £10 million from investment, so at the moment I dont see the logic in selling Vieira as we should have still had funds available.
Also the media storm about all the players we were linked with then missed out on was hard to take, I know the stories may not have been true but it gave the impression we couldn't convince players to play for Leeds.
I know this sounds negative and I am trying not to be, but this transfer window has been very bizarre to say the least.
By our standards its been an average window..a bit of a hit and miss affair.
Barry Douglas is a splendid signing and at a bargain price.Patrick Bamford is a bit of a gamble but is better than what we had last season.We will have to see how the loans pan out but they come with a reasonable reputation especially the lad from citeh.
Selling Viera was an odd one with the club more or less saying we had to sell him to 'fund' other projects.
The big worry is the CB spots..seems every man and his dog knew this was an area that desperately needed strengthening from way way back to last season..could be the difference between a top 6 spot and a mid table spot..looks like Pennington is going to be here soon..not who I would have gone for but we will see..think we will regret not getting Bartley tho.
Have to say tho that Ayling and Klich are like having 2 new signings.
I look at it through my rose tinted stella glasses and think..its not too bad..but it could have been better.
MOT
2 permanent signings -Douglas is quality and 1 with a lot to prove.Other 3 on loan with no option to buy.We are short of quality in key positions and haven’t spent enough on quality permanent signings in support of Bielsa.