Good Morning. It's Friday 6th August, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Cunha firmly back on Leeds radar Leeds pursuit of Matheus Cunha has taken a fresh twist after it was disclosed that Herta Berlin have made former Whites target Maxwel Cornet their number one target! With finances tight for everyone since the Covid pandemic, the German outfit will have to raise funds in order to land the striker. The Brazilian U23 forward only signed for Die Alte Dame (The Old Lady) (strange nickname) during last years January transfer window. He has made 38 appearance, and netted a dozen times! In 23 appearance for the young Brazilians, he has amassed an astonishing 20 goals!!! Cunha has been linked with a move to West Yorkshire all Summer, though things have certainly intensified in the last couple of days! Leeds will have to dig deep. The German outfit want just over 25m. please log in to view this image Should teams be restricted on how much they spend? We have just seen Manchester City spend a whopping 100m on the services of Jack Grealish, with a similiar amount put aside for England Captain Harry Kane. With a net worth of $22 Billion, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan can afford to spend 200-300m on players, and it will feel like pocket change but is it fair to buy your way to the Premier League title? Only Chelsea with $14.5B, Villa $10.4B and Wolves with almost $10B can afford to compete with him. Not that I'm saying Leeds are poor! Their owners have a net worth of $4B. Besides Radrizzani, our owners are listed as the 49ers Enterprise, the York family, the Debartolo Corporation, American online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos and Youtube!!!! Yes, Chad Hurley, the co-founder of youtube has invested in Leeds Utd!!!! Is it a level playing field? If they have the money, should they be able to spend it how they like? Perhaps rich clubs should be taxed 40% of their spending, after going over a certain limit, and ploughed back into the lower leagues? please log in to view this image Is Shackleton on the move? A host of football clubs are eyeing up a loan move for versatile midfielder Jamie Shackleton. The baby faced 21yo has been at Elland Road since the age of seven, working his way through the ranks. He was used sparingly last season, usually in cameo roles. During pre season, Shackleton has stood out as one to watch! Bournemouth, who have already signed left back Leif Davis on a season long loan (with a view to a permanent arrangement) have shown the most interest. Do Leeds need Shackleton for the first team, or should he be loaned out to gain more experience? Perhaps you think he is surplus to requirements? please log in to view this image O'Brien Update Leeds Live journalist Beren Cross has shared an update on Victor Orta's pursuit of Huddersfield Town's starlet Lewis O'Brien. As disclosed earlier this week, Town have slapped a 10m price tag on their star asset following the interest from Leeds. They will be aware that O'Brien's contract is slowly winding down, and should a fee be agreed; will need time to find a replacement and bolster their squad! According to Cross:- please log in to view this image
Morning all Still so many irons in the fire with regard to midfield and wingers, so a bit pointless talking about it yet. Yes Cunha would be great but so too would Noa Lang, but is O’Brian good enough or has Bielsa seen something in him? For me Jamie Shackelton isnt good enough. Hes now 21yo and doesnt seem to have moved forward enough, but I said the same about Tyler Roberts who is 22yo and he got a new contract?
Ive been told O'Brien has a big engine, and is a good passer of the ball. Two big ticks on Bielsa's list!
Morning all, I think Shack deserves a chance in the first half of the season, he has had a good pre season. If he doesn't settle into a place in the team or as a regular sub then loan him out in January.
I just feel that for Shaks to be a regular he needs to be abke to start ahead of Klich or Ayling when either have a drop in form, and dont see him being good enough. Thats why a new midfielder would add more bite and competion.
jeez, always difficult to try and figure out what Bielsa's thinking is every transfer window, he really hates leaks and always seems to have a very short list the greed in football is obscene now, and something has to give ... I mean seriously, Grealish is going to be on something like a staggering £375k a week, yet he's nowhere near world class ... it just doesn't make sense, but then again the oil men don't really care about the game, for them it's all about bragging rights when they next host a Saudi or Qatari billionaire for dinner baseball in USA also pay silly wages, but there is a cap on percentage of revenue spend ... this is designed to ensure no club can go out of business, and never run in the red ... if a club decides to roll the dice mid-season and go sign some big wages stars to try and win, then they get a hefty Luxury Tax fine and also lose draft picks, which is a huge thing as it prevents them from signing top young talent ... yes, cnuts like Yankees have a huge payroll, but it is still limited to a percentage of their overall revenue Premier League money is corrupting the soul of the game, and tiny clubs like Bournemouth somehow can pay players £50k a week to be fkn average ... this is where it all gets completed cock-eyed, all these bang average players in the Prem being paid absolute fortunes that they truly don't deserve I remember Scummers laughing at me when I said Leeds under Bielsa would get top ten, and a Toffees mate even wanted to put bucks on it, but I settled for a bag of, you guessed it, toffees ... only my Toon mates actually felt Leeds had a great chance, because they weren't blinkered as to how ordinary teams below the top seven were ... Sheff U and Wolves both proved the point in their first seasons back, it's not that hard to see ... the fact that clubs like Burnley and Brighton keep surviving shows that the Prem is just a money pit for average ... it's not the BEST league in the world, as Sky keeps telling us, it's the BEST PAID league ... there's a difference I get exactly where Elland is coming from, and agree that there should be a tax levied and that money then goes down the pyramid to help sustain the game and reduce the gap to the Prem from a cliff to a gentle slope ... then again, Elland's suggestion is just too fkn sensible to become a reality, and greedy egomaniacs like Daniel Levy will do everything in their power to stop it happening ... they're even prepared to go play among themselves just to make an extra buck, says it all I hope Shack stays, and as it stands he probably will ... he's good cover for Ayling and in midfield, just the sort of squad player Bielsa values this O'Brien lad though, he's so fkn ugly the Dog Botherers should knock off 50% as he's not going to sell a lot of shirts to American lasses who now "support" Leeds ... £10m is a ridiculous fee anyway, Hudds taking a chance ... they are so skint they'll take £2.5m seeing as they have no chance of promotion to Prem ever again
What happens if he gets an injury or goes through a dry spell! Rodrigo is not an out and out goal scorer. He said so himself when he signed. Certain teams have managed to isolate Bamford by cutting off the supply line. We need another forward like Cunha to counter the isolation!
Klichs early form could be very important for Shack then. If it's anything like last seasons Shack could get his chance
Good Morning to matt and Doc Wj and co from a wet BardseI wish to thank you all for your vwell wishes I am still notright but I will be
If we signed Cunha, O'Brien along with Firpo and Lewis Bate, would that be considered a good Summer of business?
Getting excited now, just a week to go before the big KO. So many questions soon to be answered..... Will the mighty whites push on to bigger and better things? Is it more mid table magic or do we see the second season syndrome happen as it has to many others? How many goals will Bamford get? Can Meslier continue his fine form from last year? Are we going to see any more first team signings &, if so, who? If Roberts doesn't make the breakthrough, which player steps up into Wakey's firing line as utter garbage? Can Bielsa sustain another season of squatting down (he is getting on a bit now)? Who will Rogers' second team be this year? Can Gelhardt make the breakthrough and be the next star? Do we go to Old Trafford and blow Salford away like we did so many teams at the end of last season? Yep, definitely getting excited now
I’d say yes, nothing outstanding like last season but good progress. We have lost Alioski, Berardi and Pablo remember
Yes. The squad did not need a big overall, just slight strengthening. I've of the most important things going into this season is last years signings stayong fit. We never got to see the benefit of them all together properly. A full season under Bielsa and a full pre season under Bielsa will make these players a lot better again, we've seen this a lot already. Look at how much better the defence was when Llorente started fit and cemented his place in the team. Rodrigo was starting to hit form as well. I think for this reason last year's signings will turn out to be more important than this year's, possibly Firpo aside.
