The Leeds United Thread

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This moved fast, considering it just come to light. Welcome to the club, take your place next to the lads and give your all in murderball.

www.valenciacf.com

OFFICIAL STATEMENT: Rodrigo Moreno - Valencia CF

Valencia CF Official Website. All Club information. Latest news, match schedule, ticket sales, photos, videos and fan customer service. Amunt Valencia
www.valenciacf.com www.valenciacf.com
 
Bujakaa92 said:
Talks are around 10mil. What would be amazing price. Get some deals done this week, would be amazing. All these young singings and now first team guys coming is amazing to watch and club has a vision set.
PS. Phil is tier 1 for us. Most reliable on inside Leeds topic.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1298577594519101442

https://twitter.com/x/status/1298582147335421953
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If he’s 10m on Fantasy Football that’s to much considering who else you can get for similar fees and better players. Should be about 6m max
 
theathletic.co.uk

Record move for Rodrigo is a statement. Bielsa’s targeting quality over quantity

For the Leeds head coach there is no rush - the transfer wheels are turning slowly in a difficult market and signings have to be right
theathletic.co.uk theathletic.co.uk

There was a conversation at Leeds United in January, while the club were digging around for a new striker, which typified Marcelo Bielsa’s attitude towards transfers.

A bid for Southampton’s Che Adams had collapsed so Leeds identified what they thought were some strong alternatives: Glenn Murray, Billy Sharp and others. Bielsa appreciated their ability but struck a line through most of the names, on the basis that they lacked the ideal skill set. Jean-Kevin Augustin was met with his approval but barring him, Bielsa would rather have gone without.

What if Patrick Bamford gets injured, he was asked. Then I’ll use Tyler Roberts up front. And what if Roberts gets injured? Then Jack Harrison can play as a No 9, he replied. Bielsa is not so special that he can disregard recruitment but he prides himself on solving problems without running straight for the transfer market. There is, invariably, another way.

The proof of that is in Leeds’ results under Bielsa, their promotion to the Premier League last month and the signings made in his two years as head coach. Leeds averaged fewer than four recruits in each of his first four windows and Augustin was the only proven outfield acquisition across two separate January markets. Bielsa did not envisage a rebuild when he was appointed in 2018 and he is not interested in one now, even with the Premier League on the horizon. He breaks the mould of managers who hang their hats on constant, rigorous investment.

Even so, the deals for which he asks matter to him. Lazio learned that the hard way in 2016 when he quit within days of taking over. He is not demanding in terms of financial expenditure but his brief for the targets he wants could not be more strict or specific, which is why a player such as Ryan Kent is on his mind again.

Leeds monitored Kent closely last year and only left him alone after deciding that Eddie Nketiah, a full-blown centre-forward, was more in line with their needs than a versatile winger. It did not change the fact that Bielsa’s analysis of Kent created a lasting interest. Daniel James falls into the same category; someone Bielsa would be naturally drawn to if the Wales winger, after his aborted move to Leeds from Swansea City, ever became available again. The Argentinian has a tendency to latch on tightly to the footballers he rates.

Where Lazio went wrong with Bielsa was in making promises they failed to keep. After his resignation, Bielsa claimed that Lazio had agreed to chase seven targets, none of whom looked like signing. He was told that five of those deals would be done by the first week of July, a deadline Lazio missed completely. “For my style of work, we needed to have these players arrive in a timely manner to train,” he said in a statement.

The absence of any transfer business made him wonder if Lazio’s hierarchy were truly making the effort. Was their commitment genuine? Or had someone sold him a pup? Bielsa was not inclined to stay and find out.

He and Leeds have never crossed swords like that. Between Bielsa and director of football Victor Orta, there is a firm understanding behind their occasional disagreements. When Swansea pulled the plug on James’ transfer right at the end of the January window in 2019, Bielsa could see that Leeds had been ambushed. When Ralph Hasenhuttl blocked Adams’ exit from St Mary’s, Bielsa accepted the justification that Southampton’s board had been indicating for a while that Adams was for sale. The loss of Nketiah halfway through his loan from Arsenal irked Bielsa but primarily because of the manner in which Arsenal recalled him. It did not make Nketiah a poor striker or a bad recruit.

Some deals he disagreed with, such as the sale of Ronaldo Vieira to Sampdoria in his first summer. But Vieira’s fee raised £7 million for Patrick Bamford, so some give and take was fine. And when it comes to incoming deals, Leeds have long since realised that it is pointless targeting anyone who Bielsa is unsure about.

Most other Championship managers would have taken Sharp or Murray (strikers with track records of scoring goals for promoted teams) without thinking twice. Bielsa told Leeds that Roberts and Harrison were better suited to his system. No signing was better than the wrong one.

That mindset will persist through this window, although prior to a dramatic breakthrough with Valencia’s Rodrigo yesterday, there was no denying that Leeds needed players or that the clock was ticking. Bielsa’s comment after leaving Lazio — about signings arriving “in a timely manner to train” — reveals a crucial aspect of his philosophy: that a player or a new signing cannot play for him until he is as fit as he needs to be, as sharp as he needs to be and as well-coached as Bielsa can make him.

That way of thinking made Bamford wait for a chance behind Kemar Roofe, despite him being Leeds’ most expensive signing in almost 20 years. It was why Pontus Jansson, after taking a post-World Cup holiday in 2018, found himself on the bench behind Gaetano Berardi. It goes some way to explaining why Augustin failed to get a serious look-in and why Leeds are increasingly reluctant to use the January window. They cannot rule out the possibility that transfers will be needed at the turn of the year but a notoriously difficult market is complicated further by the challenge of finding footballers who are ready by Bielsa’s standards.

The summer is a critical time for him, then, this one more than most. The Premier League season is closing in and Leeds are preparing for the first of several friendlies next week, less than a fortnight before they turn out at Liverpool. And yet senior staff at Elland Road betrayed no obvious sign of tension as they looked for signing number one. Bielsa’s new contract remains unsigned but both sides of that negotiation say the technicalities involved do not relate to transfers. Bielsa is at the training ground constantly and plans to be on the touchline for the first friendly, whether his deal is signed or not. He expects Leeds to deliver and his effort in planning for the new season implies confidence in the club’s ability to get it right.

The impasse with Brighton & Hove Albion over White prompted Leeds to engage more seriously with Freiburg about centre-back Robin Koch over the weekend. Koch, who played in a pre-season game for Freiburg on Saturday, is understood to be interested in a switch to England and Leeds were expected to table a formal bid this week, with the hope of getting the defender in the building before their own friendlies begin. It might help that Koch and Mateusz Klich know each other from their time together at Kaiserslautern, though at least one other Bundesliga side want to sign the 24-year-old. A second bid for Kent is still to be tabled after Rangers rejected an opening offer of £10 million but Leeds believe they are in a position to get that deal done.

They kept their options open up front, looking at Brentford’s Ollie Watkins and Chelsea’s Michy Batshuayi, but the club were on the verge of signing Rodrigo last night after 24 hours of positive talks involving Orta. Leeds did not anticipate making an offer for the Spain international when the window first opened but they were drawn into discussions after Valencia put Rodrigo up for sale in the midst of some major cost-cutting. The Athletic understands that Leeds and Valencia are agreed on a fee of around £30 million, a figure which will break United’s existing transfer record of £18 million for Rio Ferdinand. Leeds intend to finalise contracts and put Rodrigo through a medical before the end of the week.

The reality when this window opened was that Bielsa was not asking Leeds to go to town. A centre-forward and centre-back would address the positions where he needs resources most but in principle, his preferred starting line-up was not supposed to change much. He wanted a maximum of five players and potentially fewer if, for example, the club could find a winger who was versatile enough to play centrally, as Kent has for Rangers.

The summer had no reason to turn into a drama and while the wheels are turning slowly in a sedate market, Leeds did not think that it would. They did not come this far or keep Bielsa satisfied for this long to go missing with the Premier League laid out in front of them. After a quiet but patient month, Rodrigo would represent a remarkable first catch.
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' ...... What if Patrick Bamford gets injured, he was asked. Then I’ll use Tyler Roberts up front. And what if Roberts gets injured? Then Jack Harrison can play as a No 9, he replied. Bielsa is not so special that he can disregard recruitment but he prides himself on solving problems without running straight for the transfer market. There is, invariably, another way. ..... '

OI! Stop copying L'pool and get your own thing! ?
 
'..... Leeds monitored Kent closely last year and only left him alone after deciding that Eddie Nketiah, a full-blown centre-forward, was more in line with their needs than a versatile winger. It did not change the fact that Bielsa’s analysis of Kent created a lasting interest. .....'

I really hope you do get Kent.

We have an invested interest to the tune of a 20% sell-on clause. :cool:
 
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