It has been an absolutely mad summer in terms of transfers at Leeds. I started out with a plan of only wanting to change a few things around and somehow that has led to an almost entirely new starting 11. I think the previous transfer embargo has meant that a lot of players who wanted to leave the club have been sort of stored up and all gone at once, which means more replacements need to come in.. but anyway I digress, here are the transfers.
Out (Received £17.75 mil)
Giuseppe Bellusci - £4.5 mil
A good defender but a liability and a nightmare to manage. He had to leave the club for his own sake and we managed to get a decent price for him from Reading.
Mirco Antenucci - £2.1 mil
Reading solved our problem on this occasion as well, taking the unhappy striker away from the club. £2.1 million seemed a very reasonable price for the Italian.
Casper Sloth - £7.5 mil
Casper is a player I like a lot but Bournemouth offered us too much to turn down. He was only likely to be a rotation option as he was battling for a place in the side against the likes of Cook, Mowatt, Arteta and Dawson.
Chris Wood - £3.4 mil
Reading have seemed determined to buy our entire squad since their return to the Premier League and we are more than happy to oblige if they are players we dont really need at the club. A decent wad of money for Wood who is still young but with the arrival of Assombalonga and the good form of Doukara, was unlikely to get game time.
Lee Erwin - £275k
The young scottish striker was deemed surplus to requirements at Elland Road so was allowed to leave for a cut price sum to join St. Johnstone.
Chris Eagles - Released
Joseph Mills - Released
In (Spent £15.45 mil)
Britt Assombalonga - £7.5 mil + add ons.
By far our biggest transfer of the window and our marquee signing. Britt is a fabulous striker at the Championship level I feel is ready to make the step up. He has pace, power, technique and finishing ability and should lead the new look attacking line beautifully.
Demarai Gray - £4.2 mil
Demarai is a hugely talented young winger and didnt want to stay at Birmingham following their relegation to League One. Luckily we were on hand to help out and made a cut price deal to bring the young starlet to Elland Road. He will primarily be playing on the left hand side of the attack and be cutting in on his favoured right foot but he is capable of playing in several other positions as well.
Scott Dann - £1.7 mil
Our first signing from relegated Crystal Palace, Scott Dann brings experience and strength to the defensive line. He is still reasonably young and English and will instantly become the new club captain. A direct replacement for the departing Giuseppe Bellusci.
Callum McManaman - £1.1 mil
As mentioned before we took the opportunity to bring transfer listed Callum McManaman to the club. A determined winger with a wicked burst of pace and tricky feet, he could really help us unlock some of the more stubborn defences in the Premiership.
Mile Jedinak - £400k
Jedinak was not a happy bunny following Palaces relegation to the Championship and wanted out. We first heard about this through his agent who was agitating for a move and it just so happened we were in the market for a defensive midfielder. Huge experience and strength will hopefully tighten our defence this year.
Mikel Arteta - Free
Mikel joins on a free transfer after terminating his Arsenal contract by mutual consent. The deal involves a staff role as he takes the position of under 18's assistant manager and the fact that he is only on £5k a week is a huge bonus. Vastly experienced and classy player for free. Bargain.
Juan Vargas - Free
Joseph Mills made lots of noises about leaving the club until he was eventually released from his contract. Luckily this chappy appeared on a free. 31 years of age and still carrying decent pace he will be a great asset throughout the season at left back.
Adam Smith - £195k
After the departure of Berardi last season we needed a new right back to support Sam Byram. I didnt have huge confidence in Scott Wooton playing there at Premier League level so we needed a new face. Adam was transfer listed at Bournemouth following limited playing time so we agreed a deal for him to move the move here. Young and with good potential he is a great squad player.
Tiago Ilori - Loan (£2.2 buy option)
Ilori is another player that was mentioned previously. Joining on loan from Liverpool he adds pace and quality to the defence and already seems to be settling in quite nicely. A decent find from our scouting department.
Oriol Romeu - Loan
Romeu joins on loan from Southampton to provide some depth and cover for the midfield. Both strong and creative in equal measure with a decent eye for a pass, he could be an asset this season.
