Trialists, Transfers & Speculation

[MightyWhite]

[AmarinderBedi]

Good. We can’t afford to lose a player of his quality.

[Phil LUFC]

So... We've used the whole exercise to benchmark his market value/salary expectations instead of negotiating with his agent ourselves?

[MightyWhite]

So... We've used the whole exercise to benchmark his market value/salary expectations instead of negotiating with his agent ourselves?

I doubt we were as deliberate as that, but it’s a good idea in principle! Happens quite a lot in the NFL, where teams let players go out and ‘test the market’ but deciding whether they can match what they can get elsewhere.

[Tommy]

I hope those that have always bleated on about you can't buy players in January have bought some nice fresh eggs

I think it was "can't buy decent/not ridiculously expensive players in Jan".

Regarding this, I previously wrote out specifically why it was so difficult to sign players in January under Bielsa -

1. Definitively better than what you have already (particularly hard in the Bielsaball era where veterans of the system are understandably preferred).
2. Fit enough to play (which is also unlikely given that you're probably not signing a starting player or why are they moving in January? Hugely important in a Bielsa side, can sometimes take months).
3. Affordable to a low to mid tier PL club transitioning between owners (you're probably going to pay inflated prices when we've already spent about £150-200m in the last few seasons).
4. Inexplicably available to be signed in January despite being supposedly good, fit and affordable (the odds are very much against this).
5. Wants to come to Leeds, a club at least modestly flirting with relegation, and potentially sit on the bench when our better and/or more experienced players are fit.
6. Somehow nobody else wants your unicorn, even though there are scores of clubs with considerably more money than us right now.
7. Then the simple fact that few transfers actually work out in general, let alone January purchases. Seem to recall Wilko said one in three at best and he's probably not far off.

This is noticeably different in the current situation because virtually every variable has changed.

1. Better than what you have - this doesn't really seem to matter as much anymore because of the new owners moving us into the next financial bracket and the previous stalwarts are aging out of contention, injured or have left, so are no longer as difficult to replace.
2. Fit enough to play - from the look of Wober and McKennie, Marsch isn't massively fussed about body fat percentages. Likewise Georginio hadn't played in two months so being fit seems to be optional now.
3. Affordable - arguably the biggest stumbling block in the past but new owners seem to be happy to spend a lot of money on new players, presumably to protect their forthcoming investment.
4. Available - money seems to once again be the big difference here, though we got McKennie at least because Juventus are shagged and they were keen to move him on.
5. Wants to come - the allure of the Premier League over other leagues has helped us here, as has being able to pay more in wages and in the case of Wober and McKennie, having a link to our manager and some of our players.
6. Competition from other clubs - again, having money and everybody knowing a big takeover is coming seems to make this less of an issue. We didn't get Gakpo but seems like we've not missed out on much, likewise CDK.
7. Any good? - wait and see. I feel like there's an argument to be made that 2-4 of our summer signings haven't turned out as planned, though I do think much of this is to do with Marsch.

[Bobbycollins]

On the BBC website there's a "How did you club do in the transfer window?" piece, with assessment by someone from a club fan podcast or similar. Slightly interesting in that most fans have given their club 8 or 9 out of 10, having spent a lot of cash on players that were probably unknown to the fans 4 weeks ago. Shows how stupid we all are. Everton received 0 out of 10, which is generous, whilst Liverpool, Man City, Spurs and West Ham were given 4 or 5 due to little activity.. Most of the clubs in the bottom third of the table are now apparently clear of relegation.

[Phil LUFC]

I hope those that have always bleated on about you can't buy players in January have bought some nice fresh eggs

I think it was "can't buy decent/not ridiculously expensive players in Jan".

Regarding this, I previously wrote out specifically why it was so difficult to sign players in January under Bielsa -

1. Definitively better than what you have already (particularly hard in the Bielsaball era where veterans of the system are understandably preferred).
2. Fit enough to play (which is also unlikely given that you're probably not signing a starting player or why are they moving in January? Hugely important in a Bielsa side, can sometimes take months).
3. Affordable to a low to mid tier PL club transitioning between owners (you're probably going to pay inflated prices when we've already spent about £150-200m in the last few seasons).
4. Inexplicably available to be signed in January despite being supposedly good, fit and affordable (the odds are very much against this).
5. Wants to come to Leeds, a club at least modestly flirting with relegation, and potentially sit on the bench when our better and/or more experienced players are fit.
6. Somehow nobody else wants your unicorn, even though there are scores of clubs with considerably more money than us right now.
7. Then the simple fact that few transfers actually work out in general, let alone January purchases. Seem to recall Wilko said one in three at best and he's probably not far off.

This is noticeably different in the current situation because virtually every variable has changed.

1. Better than what you have - this doesn't really seem to matter as much anymore because of the new owners moving us into the next financial bracket and the previous stalwarts are aging out of contention, injured or have left, so are no longer as difficult to replace.
2. Fit enough to play - from the look of Wober and McKennie, Marsch isn't massively fussed about body fat percentages. Likewise Georginio hadn't played in two months so being fit seems to be optional now.
3. Affordable - arguably the biggest stumbling block in the past but new owners seem to be happy to spend a lot of money on new players, presumably to protect their forthcoming investment.
4. Available - money seems to once again be the big difference here, though we got McKennie at least because Juventus are shagged and they were keen to move him on.
5. Wants to come - the allure of the Premier League over other leagues has helped us here, as has being able to pay more in wages and in the case of Wober and McKennie, having a link to our manager and some of our players.
6. Competition from other clubs - again, having money and everybody knowing a big takeover is coming seems to make this less of an issue. We didn't get Gakpo but seems like we've not missed out on much, likewise CDK.
7. Any good? - wait and see. I feel like there's an argument to be made that 2-4 of our summer signings haven't turned out as planned, though I do think much of this is to do with Marsch.

To add to that I think is a somewhat special January window due to the timing of the world cup. I don't think many teams did as much as they might have in the summer because of the extended break. The window opened close enough to the restart for the start of it to broadly like the last week of the summer window. January itself is pretty light with 2 FA cup weekends and no Europe but then it's a hard slog from here, particularly for those going deep in the cups/Europe.

[Phil LUFC]

On the BBC website there's a "How did you club do in the transfer window?" piece, with assessment by someone from a club fan podcast or similar. Slightly interesting in that most fans have given their club 8 or 9 out of 10, having spent a lot of cash on players that were probably unknown to the fans 4 weeks ago. Shows how stupid we all are. Everton received 0 out of 10, which is generous, whilst Liverpool, Man City, Spurs and West Ham were given 4 or 5 due to little activity.. Most of the clubs in the bottom third of the table are now apparently clear of relegation.

We all love shiny new things. I'm very much enjoying Scunny announcing a new signing every hour on the hour today, 6 down, last 1 to be made public shortly. They're mostly teen-agers and I've not heard of any of them but it's still exciting and that's without the deadline being close (end of March for the national league).

[jackos]

So if that stories true we have broken our own salary structure to keep him? Phil Hay and others have been saying all week that we couldn't match what Leicester could pay.

I'm starting to get Ridsdale feelings about our current owners, paying over the odds, and collecting forwards.. Best we don't get relegated ey...

[Trumper]

So if that stories true we have broken our own salary structure to keep him? Phil Hay and others have been saying all week that we couldn't match what Leicester could pay.

I'm starting to get Ridsdale feelings about our current owners, paying over the odds, and collecting forwards.. Best we don't get relegated ey...

It’s a different world /league these days especially when teams like Bournemouth can offer more salary than AC Milan.

Wonder if Rodders injury made us change our mind re Harrison

[Phil LUFC]

So if that stories true we have broken our own salary structure to keep him? Phil Hay and others have been saying all week that we couldn't match what Leicester could pay.

I'm starting to get Ridsdale feelings about our current owners, paying over the odds, and collecting forwards.. Best we don't get relegated ey...

There was some clarification a little later on:

[welshwhite]

Looks to me that Jack is quite happy to stick around and go along with the process.

It's always a positive sign when players don't want to leave, plus players like Pascal signing new long term contracts

The only thing missing now is some instant success.

[Phil LUFC]

Forest have added Andre Ayew to their collection (he was a free agent and rejected Everton for them). As a result they've left Lewis O'Brien out of their 25 man squad, so his season is done unless Blackburn win an appeal over their loan for him - I assume the papers were filed late for that one. Perhaps we dodged a bullet 18m ago if he's not good enough for Forest's team.

[Bobbycollins]

Forest have added Andre Ayew to their collection (he was a free agent and rejected Everton for them). As a result they've left Lewis O'Brien out of their 25 man squad, so his season is done unless Blackburn win an appeal over their loan for him - I assume the papers were filed late for that one. Perhaps we dodged a bullet 18m ago if he's not good enough for Forest's team.

I read about this a few minutes ago and was planning to post something similar about O'Brien. It seems bizarre that Forest have signed 30 players since the summer, on top of the team that won promotion. Sports Mole have published new squad lists, which looking solely at the list of Leeds players, includes the January transfer window movements https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/p ... quads.html. Some more reading for you!

[eric olthwaite]

It seems bizarre that Forest have signed 30 players since the summer, on top of the team that won promotion.

[Bobbycollins]

Forest have added Andre Ayew to their collection (he was a free agent and rejected Everton for them). As a result they've left Lewis O'Brien out of their 25 man squad, so his season is done unless Blackburn win an appeal over their loan for him - I assume the papers were filed late for that one. Perhaps we dodged a bullet 18m ago if he's not good enough for Forest's team.

I read about this a few minutes ago and was planning to post something similar about O'Brien. It seems bizarre that Forest have signed 30 players since the summer, on top of the team that won promotion. Sports Mole have published new squad lists, which looking solely at the list of Leeds players, includes the January transfer window movements https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/p ... quads.html. Some more reading for you!

Having had a closer look, the Sports Mole info merely seems to be lists of players, rather than the revised squads submitted to the Premier league, e.g the Forest list is somewhat larger than the 25 player limit.

[MightyWhite]

Another year for Lukey Ayling

[Blackwhite]

Only a year seems a bit tight given all he's done, but better than him going, esp. for nothing.

[Phil LUFC]

Excellent news, given he's still our best right back. At this point I'd quite like him to earn a further 2 years and get to a testimonial. There's not a huge amount of room for sentimentality and it would probably be a bad sign for the club if he's still our best RB in 2 years time but it would be fitting for the contribution he's made.

[the flying pig]

yeah, i think an extra year is great news for us. i don't think he's quite what he was physically, aged 31 and with two or three at least medium-sized knee and ankle knacks under his belt, but given the standard of opposition i think you could perfectly reasonably argue that his two most recent leeds performances, both against manyoo were two of, arguably the two, standout performances of his career. he's a hugely savvy player, still brings loads to the first xi and the squad so it's great that he's staying a little longer. he'll be nearly 33 in summer 2024, that to me seems a very proper time to review the situation and take a risk on him still being good & offered better terms somewhere else.