Good Morning. It's Wednesday 19th August, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Whelan - Sign Duffy or risk relegation Former Leeds forward Noel Whelan has warned Marcelo Bielsa - Sign Shane Duffy or risk relegation. Brighton have let it be known that they are willing to listen to offers as some of their defenders have become surplus to requirements. Duffy joined the Seagulls in 2016, racking up 122 appearances for club and 33 caps for the Republic of Ireland. The Londonderry born 28yo stands 6ft 4' and would be available for around 2.5m Whelan said “Gaetano Berardi is out for a long time so we don’t really have any recognised centre-halves bar the young lads coming through. “With Premier League football and the players you’re coming up against you’re going to get found out pretty quickly. “We need experience and Shane Duffy has played in the Premier League, he knows what it’s all about. "He’s a competitor, a leader and I’m sure lots of clubs are looking at him. “He’s one player I look at him and think ‘yeah if we can add him to the squad along with another centre-half then we’re covering two positions’. “We do need quality, we can’t get away with average in the Premier League, you’ll soon get found out. “We don’t want to be a one season wonder, working so hard to get into the Premier League. "We’ve got to make sure we buy the right players and don’t overextend ourselves with the money we’ve got.” Who thinks Whelan has a point? please log in to view this image Leeds register interest in forgotten Gooner Leeds have registered their interest in Gunners centre back defender Rob Holding. A Leeds source revealed that the club have been told that Holding will be made available for a move this Summer. Holding signed for Wenger back in 2016 from Bolton for a fee of 2m. He has made 39 appearances in four years. Do the Whites need better quality than Holden, or could the 24yo be a hidden gem? please log in to view this image Is Bielsa spreading our defence too thin? When you see the depth of squads, from the likes of Brighton who have Tariq Lamptey, Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster, Dan Burn, Martin Montoya, Ben White, Joel Veltman, Bernardo, Shane Duffy, Matt Clarke and Leo Ostigard all vying for four defensive positions, and then you see Leeds central defenders made up of just Liam Cooper, you have to ask yourself whether purchasing just one centre back will be enough? Will Cooper be good enough for the Premiership? Assuming Leeds splash out on a decent defender, will that be enough to keep the Whites comfortable in he top flight? In previous campaigns dating back to the 2010/11, we have seen Leeds fall apart in the second part of the season. Excluding the season we've just had, Leeds have averaged just 10 points from their final nine games over the past nine years. Whilst last season bucks the trend, I cannot help but consider whether the three month break we had gave the Whites a major boost? please log in to view this image
Whelan needs to STFU as we dont need a Brighton reject who’s really just a big lump. Bielsa wants one replacement for White and has 4 options lined up with the Arsenal kid being on that list along with Robin Koch, Duffy isnt on anyones list. The other 2 players on the list are Juan Foyth and Louis Martinez-Quarto, so one Under21 International and three full Internationals. Yes Duffy is an International but not in the same league as Germany and Argentina can people forget the clickbait rubbish about the team dying at the end of the season. Bielsa has scotched that in an interview with Rob Pryce our medic who showed data from every player which proved the squad were exactly at the same level of fitness at the end of the season as they were at the start, and most were slightly ahead and fitter. Pryce also said the injuries sustained were impact injuries done in games and not muscle strains done in training or over training. Bielsa uses data to assist his plans and anyone imagine he wouldn't have noticed a problem and corrected it?
Morning all, I would love to see us sign Holding and I'm surprised to see him as surplus at Arsenal. I've watched a bit of Arsenal under Arteta and he was one of their better players before he got an injury.
Good Morning to Matt and co from a dull Bardsey t I agree we need two CB Holding would be of interest along with Koch I refuse to do business with Brighton
Our U21's have been drawn against Accrinton Stanley, Barrow & Blackpool in Group G of the EFL Trophy (all matches away from home). This will be great for their development and let's hope they give a good account of themselves.
Absolute bare minimum is a centre back to replace White and someone to put the ball in the net. The 'I would also like' list comprises of a number 10 to help out Pablo, an experienced goalkeeper to back up Meslier. I'm willing to go with Struijk replacing Berardi's role as a back up centre back and Poveda giving us options out wide. Forshaw backs us up in midfield with Shackleton. We are not far off being a decent PL side.
Morning all I think Holding would be a better choice than Duffy as a potential target. Let's face it Duffy is a bit of a journeyman. From what I've read in the press Lennon wants him at Celtic and Duffy wants to go up to Glasgow.
Yes we need all 11 players, wait till we are ten points clear at the top before we start taking the piss just playing ten men.
On the striker front it looks like we are negotiating with Gonzalez and Calabri (Clubs) seems Michy Bats is out of the picture because of the fee and his wages, lets face it we can buy both of the players above for the same fee as Bats and only pay half the wages we would have to pay him. Clubs like the top 6 deserve the crap thats happening to them because they killed football with their cash. Ozil on £350k per week is £19m per year and he wont play and he wont move so the club will carry on paying him to do nothing and then he walks away for free next Summer. Man Utd had the same problem but allowed Sanchez to go on a free saving them £19m per year in wages. Michy Bats was given a 5 year deal on £108k per week so £6m per year in wages and hes hardly done anything since putting his slippers on and putting his feet up in London. Loaned out 3 times without much success, you would think a player like him would want to get his career back on line...... nah just give me the cash and the lifestyle
Well done Tanker https://www.leedsunited.com/news/team-news/26920/luke-ayling-named-pfa-player-of-the-year
to be fair to bats, he’s scored goals most places except Chelsea and done it at international level. Didn’t strike me as being a perfect fit for bielsaball but once players gave a view of their ‘worth’ it’s hard to get them to reappraise it downwards!
Doc, whilst I agree with everything you have said above, it does puzzle me that when there was a possibility of us signing him, his stats and records at other clubs apart from Chelsea were great, but now that he is out of the picture it appears that he has hardly done anything. If you are just referring to his time at Chelsea, then that's fine and we can forget this comment, but given that you also mention that he has been loaned out 3 times without success, seems to contradict what you have said previously. I guess I am curious why you didn't post your concerns about Batshuayi playing performances that you mention today, in any of your previous posts, as surely they were as relevant then as they are now
