Good Morning. It's Friday 11th September, and here re the latest headlines from Elland Road Rodrigo De Paul is keen to join Leeds United Speaking on his weekly podcast, Leeds Utd mogul Phil Hay revealed that Rodrigo De Paul is keen on a move to Elland Road, and if Leeds really wanted to secure the move, they could make it happen. Udinese want £36.9m (€40m) for De Paul with Gazzetta dello Sport saying this was a take it or leave it valuation. These were fairly quickly unliked but not before they’d caught the attention of many Leeds fans. The Athletic journalist said, “He [Rodrigo De Paul] is keen, there is no doubt about that and Leeds from their part are very keen as well. “But it’s interesting because Leeds haven’t really moved hard to get anything else done since Rodrigo and Koch were done that weekend and £40m went out. “Any other transfers and signings will rely very heavily on what Bielsa feels he needs. He doesn’t feel like he needs surplus players. It would be hard to describe De Paul as a surplus player, he looks like a terrific signing. Leeds could do it financially. “If Leeds decide to go for it properly, my gut feeling is that yes he will [join Leeds].” How could anyone see De Paul as a surplus player. We don't however want to sign a player who Bielsa won't give any game time to! please log in to view this image Bielsa finally agrees to put pen to paper Marcelo Bielsa marked his first ever Premiership Press Conference, to reveal what every Leeds fan had been waiting to hear for weeks - that he was going to sign a new deal with the club. The 65yo will put pen to paper over a one year deal worth 6m. It is believed that he will pay his back room staff and coaches out of this money. The Argentine's attention to detail in the terms of his contract has been the primary reason why it has taken seven weeks to finalise since the end of last season. Speaking at the Press conference, Bielsa said :- “I will be working next season with Leeds United,” “Everything has been sorted and it’s definite that I will be here next season.” “Like in every negotiation, nothing is done until it’s actually done,” “There’s nothing of importance. I’ve been working 100 percent since the promotion celebrations were finished.” please log in to view this image Bielsa's Pre match press conference v Liverpool Leeds face competition with Brighton over Lukaku's signature Leeds and Brighton are locked in a tug of war to bring Jordan Lakaku, younger brother of Inter Milan's striker Romelu, to the Premiership. One of Andrea Radrizzani’s closest aides had asked Lazio about the availability of the attacking full-back some weeks ago. It is believed that a €5 million (£4.6m) bid would secure the services of the Belgium International! Lakaku has 66 appearances to his name over the last four years. To keep his International dream alive, he needs to be playing first team football. please log in to view this image
Nice one Ell. Don't want Lukaku. He's never fit. If Bielsa doesn't want De Paul then that's fine with me until we start losing and then I will dredge this up and throw it at him on here! Until that moment, in Bielsa we trust!
De Paul is a upgrade on what we already have so surely he wouldn't be surplus to our squad We haven't improved the midfield area so get him signed up swiftly, the season is almost upon us
All this de Paul kerfuffle is doing my head in. He sounds like a fantastic player and his stats are excellent. We really could do with a player of this calibre as Pablo is sadly not getting any younger. One minute he is keen then he wants to stay in Italy. Now he supposedly wants to move. I try not to read all the rumours floating about for this reason, most of it is bollix. I was hoping we would have had a couple more quality signings before the start but heigh ho it is what it is.
After Rodrigo and Koch maybe Bielsa just wanted to calm things down again to get ready for Liverpool. Maybe he just wanted to see how some U23s performed in training and maybe Poveda. Poveda is potentially the Ryan Kent Bielsa liked after all he was understudy to Foden at City and knew he would never get into the first team there. if Davies and Struijk fulfill their promise we dont need a new LB or an understudy CB. So maybe next week things will happen and some 23s like Gotts, Bogusz and Alfie get their loan moves? As much as I admire Bielsas views I do feel we don't have anyone who can fill Pablos boots unless Poveda does it fast, so therefore we need that top creative player who can fill in on the flanks and middle. De Paul is about as good as any top team in World football can get, so a no brainer for me.
Ryan Edmondson is going back up to Aberdeen next week. His ankle injury wasn't as bad as first feared and Rob Pryce has sorted him so that he can return to training.
If Bielsa doesn't want De Paul then I don't want De Paul either but I'm not sure the interview with Phil Hay confirms that Bielsa sees him as surplus, I think it's just a case of making sure we get the right players in and we can currently play Pablo/Rodrigo in midfield. I think we will get a no.10/winger/Pablo replacement but there is still some time left in the market and the big signings are expensive so everything needs to be right and everyone needs to be happy/in agreement e.g. Bielsa/Orta/Radz etc. The big signings also take a few weeks to agree even when they seem close, see Havertz and Rodrigo from when we heard rumours to when these players were announced. Very happy to see Bielsa officially announced. I was never in any doubt but it's always nice to see the confirmation. If we wasn't happy, contract or not he'd be straight out the door anyway. If Lukaku can adhere to Bielas training regime then that would be a good signing but it would mean no Gvardiol but 20 million for someone to be on the bench is a bit much for me so if we lose out on Gvardiol but get De Paul and Lukaku I'd be happy. Think we'll get a LB/CB, CAM/CM and a winger with two being purchases and one loanee.
I dont see anyway Leeds are chasing Lukaku as yet again the media have linked Radz to his mates at Lazio and have linked us to half a dozen of their players. Besides why would you want the crap Lukaku or indeed the crap Alcantara in Refinah. If we buy a defender it’ll be a left side CB who can play LB I think we will buy a 10 who can play wing and why it will be expensive as not all wingers can do 10 and not all 10s can play wing
Good afternoon from a chilly Bardsey De Paul rolls on and on The lad Summerville looks really exciting prospect to me to me but he has not signed yetI wonder whats the hold up no travel ban surely
He was having his medical in Holland yesterday or today with one of Rob Pryces medics. The boy may have already signed but not due to be in Leeds while next week, maybe even Monday. The Feyenoord fans sent him a video message with music “When will I see you again” the boy has left them
Afternoon all... I fear a welcome to the Premier League drubbing from Liverpool and I also fear it will show us that we are still a bunch of average Championship players with a world class coach. Bielsa isn’t a magician, he’s improved the players he has to their max. Refusing to have a larger squad, not willing to be ruthless and bring in the De Paul type players will backfire. Do we all believe Cooper is now good enough for the Premier League? In my opinion we’re still 2-3 players short of a mid table squad and if Kiko has to be called upon bottom three
I've waited to see who we sign before trying to guess what kind of season we will have but we have to be realistic. White was immense, Koch might equal that for us and we had Roofe and Bamford at one stage, Nketiah too and although I think Rodrigo is a world class signing he isn't prolific, if he gets injured or suspended we rely on another non prolific striker in Bamford. We seem to have concentrated our main effort on the U23 signings, our first team as it stands in my opinion is not good enough to climb above midtable, the money is there but Bielsa doesn't want them. I will trust him, I hope I am wrong but I am not looking forward to the Liverpool game in the slightest
If true this won't go down well, wouldn't even be surprised to see Phillips pulled up over it... Surely this has been twisted? When questioned about if Rodrigo will start for Leeds against Liverpool Phillips said: “It wouldn’t surprise me if he started Bamford. “That’s one of the biggest thing in football that frustrates me. It’s not as though he’s come in today, he’s been in there for a bit, he’s worked with the payers, he knows the players now. “For me, he starts. “Why pay all that money for a player and start him on the bench and ease him in? He’s ready, he’ll be hungry. “Unfortunately someone has to miss out and it looks like it could be Bamford. “But then again it wouldn’t surprise me, being loyal, he could give him an opportunity. “Nobody will give Leeds a hope in hells chance up at Liverpool so he might just go with Bamford. “They’ll be at home the next game and they could unleash him (Rodrigo) then. Managers sometimes approach games like that. It will be interesting to see. “In terms of the striker, I would go with the new guy straight away.” https://www.footballinsider247.com/...think-after-big-leeds-training-ground-reveal/
