Leeds United: Leeds Transfer Window Update
Leeds United: Leeds Transfer Window Update
Transcript
00:00But until then, we'll do what we always do at the moment, which is end with a little transfer update.
00:07Not as a lot has really happened in the last week since we last recorded one of these.
00:12But do you still think they need a winger?
00:15Oh yeah, 100%. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
00:18I mean, they need a winger and they need a centre midfielder. I don't think there's any doubt about that.
00:22And a full-back as well, to be honest.
00:24I think the full-back might be more of a sort of backup kind of idea.
00:29As in, you'd have Jadon Bogle, first choice, right back. Firpo, first choice, left back.
00:33And then obviously, you'd have Byron, who can play either.
00:35But to be honest, I mean, Bogle didn't start the season fantastically well.
00:38I still think he'll be a very good signing once he settles in and stuff and gets a bit better defensively.
00:42But another full-back is definitely needed for the squad.
00:45And when you look at the squad as well, obviously, there's a few graphics flying around this week and stuff in terms of the size of the squad.
00:50Leeds have got a pretty small squad when you look at it compared to a lot of the other bigger teams.
00:55I mean, Scott Parker was talking about having 40 players at Burnley.
00:58I mean, obviously, that'll get trimmed down a bit, I think.
01:00But I mean, you don't need 40.
01:02I know Marcelo Bielsa also did it on a small squad as well.
01:05But you need options. You need strength in depth.
01:07And for sure, Leeds need bodies in.
01:09We're going to be talking two weeks left of the transfer window after this podcast.
01:13And they definitely need to be getting players in.
01:16And yeah, I mean, it's not rocket science, is it?
01:19A winger has to be top of the list.
01:20You lose Crisensio Somerville, the Championships Player of the Year, 19 goals.
01:24You can't just not replace him.
01:25I mean, obviously, you could say, well, Aronson's come back.
01:27Yeah, I get that.
01:28And you could say, well, Joseph's now coming into the team a bit more.
01:31But I mean, you need to replace him.
01:33And they need to go out and get someone good.
01:34And they need to make it a statement signing.
01:36I think, really, that has to be done.
01:37And midfield as well, centre midfield.
01:39Because obviously, again, not rocket science.
01:42You've lost Archie Gray, who, yes, was right back.
01:44But also was naturally a centre midfield.
01:46You've lost Glenn Kamara.
01:47All right, you brought in Joe Rothwell, who looks like he could be quite good.
01:50But there's still this, you know, always been this debate about Leeds
01:53ever since Pablo Hernandez went really in terms of needing someone more creative.
01:56So they need a winger.
01:57And they need a centre midfielder who can create a bit.
01:59And we know full well, they've looked at Dejan Ljubicic at FC Colne.
02:03We know that a bid went in for him, believed to be around about 3.3 million.
02:07But the sort of vibe on that is basically that Colne are wanting quite a big fee
02:12for him, despite him only having one year left on his contract, to such a degree
02:16where it sounds like it might price Leeds out of it.
02:18Because they don't want to be sort of like feeling like they're paying over the odds
02:21for somebody.
02:22So that's one to watch.
02:23I mean, that could change, obviously.
02:24There's quite clearly interest in there.
02:25So in terms of centre midfielder, that could change.
02:28He's obviously the one we've looked at.
02:30But there will be other targets.
02:31And Jonathan Rowe is the winger one, really, that looks like, if anything,
02:35that we know of at the moment, about to materialise, it will be him.
02:38But whether they can get him or not remains to be seen.
02:41And that just comes down to price, obviously.
02:43I mean, I think people were reasonably hopeful they'd get Jonathan Rowe.
02:47And I think he'd be an excellent signing, Jonathan Rowe, from Norwich.
02:50Because he's done it in the Championship before.
02:51And he's still young.
02:52And he's in England under-21 internationally.
02:54So there's not really that many question marks about him.
02:56If he came to Leeds, I'd expect him to sign and score goals and get assists,
03:00whether he'd get as many as Somerville is another matter altogether.
03:03But I think he'd be a very good signing.
03:05But obviously, Leeds are interested in him as well.
03:07He's well known.
03:08Marseille are also interested in him too.
03:10And I think as soon as people got wind of the fact Marseille are interested in him,
03:13they thought that's the end of that.
03:15A bid from him went in at the weekend from Marseille.
03:17That got rebuffed.
03:18Whether they come back remains to be seen.
03:20But obviously, Rowe's then been taking out the equation,
03:22or take himself out the equation, at Norwich and training with the 21s.
03:25So he's obviously attainable.
03:28But it's about price.
03:29And the reports are that Norwich want around about 15 million for him
03:34or something like that.
03:35So that's a decent whack, isn't it, really?
03:37But then obviously, if you want a decent player,
03:39you have to play a decent whack.
03:40So it's just watch this space, really, with him.
03:42But there's obviously interest in him.
03:44And he looks like the one.
03:45Raksaki is the one that's got away at Crystal Palace.
03:48That was the one that started developing over the last couple of weeks.
03:51But it sounds like Leeds have been looking at him for some time.
03:54And we understand that Leeds were in talks with him over the weekend about signing him.
03:59There were talks of a £15 million bid being certainly readied.
04:03Whether that actually materialised or not, I'm not too sure.
04:06But that's what the talk was of.
04:08But it was always looking more like a loan deal for him.
04:11The key with that one is that Leeds were keen not to guarantee someone minutes
04:15in terms of guarantee a player a certain amount of minutes,
04:17which you need to be careful of, obviously.
04:19And it looks like he's obviously going to Sheffield United,
04:21where he'll probably get more minutes.
04:22But again, they're going to be another key rival, I think.
04:25So he's one that's got away, by the sounds of it.
04:28Rose, one to keep an eye on.
04:29Ljubicic is one to keep an eye on.
04:31And then the defender, obviously, Basia Humphreys at Chelsea.
04:34They certainly looked at him, but he's a centre-back.
04:37And I think, obviously, they'd rather have a full-back.
04:39So loads of players there, obviously, in the mix that we know they're looking at
04:43or have looked at.
04:44But there's still two weeks left of the window left.
04:47And I think the impression I get from Leeds is that they don't want to panic,
04:51that they think they've got a fully-fit squad.
04:53They have still got a good squad and got good players,
04:55and there's no doubt about that.
04:56But, I mean, time is ticking, and you don't want to be leaving it
05:01right to the end of the window to get people in.
05:03So, yeah, there's no doubt about it.
05:05We've talked about this for about two or three weeks now, really.
05:07A winger, a centre-midfielder and a full-back,
05:09ever since Somerville went, and they're definitely needed.
05:12And to be quite honest, I think it could be the difference
05:15between going up or not.
05:17Yeah, yes, I think you're right.
05:19As we've already said, you can't not replace someone like Somerville.
05:23They need a centre-midfielder as well, and it just depends on how pricings go.
05:27But they need to get a bit of a move on as well,
05:29and if the prices for those ones you mentioned aren't right,
05:32then they have to come up with new targets pretty soon.
05:35Because, as you said, the time is ticking,
05:37and you don't want to be left a bit short come the end of the month.
05:41But that'll do it for this week.
05:44That's just about perfect.
05:46Very good.
05:47But yeah, Lee, it's Middlesbrough midweek,
05:49and then it's West Brom at the weekend.
05:51Two big games, one in the League Cup, one in the Championship.
05:55Leeds will be looking to right the wrongs they had against Portsmouth
05:59in the first game of the season.
06:01But until then, we'll catch you next week.
06:03We'll see how those games go, and we'll talk about them next time.
06:06So thank you all very much for listening, and we'll see you then.
06:09Cheers, bye for now.