Good Morning. It's Wednesday 1st June, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Bitter enemy could tangle carrot in pursuit of England ace Bitter enemies Manchester United could use James Garner to help sweeten a potential deal that would see Kalvin Phillips move to Old Trafford. Hatred between the two clubs runs deep, yet it is understood that James Garner is high up on Jesse Marsch's wish list. Incredibly, the 21yo central midfielder played 49 games for Nottingham Forest last season, and was instrumental in helping them gain promotion, back to the top flight after a 23-year exile. Garner joined the red side of Manchester thirteen years ago, at the tender age of eight, and has represented England at every age group from U17 level. A host of Premier League Clubs are desperate to sign him, yet Leeds could have the upper hand, if they agree to do business with the (red) Devils. Neighbours Manchester City, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Newcastle are all hovering over Elland Road, ready to swoop, but with two years left on his contract, Leeds hold all the cards! If Manchester Utd made a 60m offer, with Garner joining Leeds, would you accept? please log in to view this image Leeds lining up seven figure offer for Birmingham youngster Leeds are leading the race to sign the Birmingham City starlet George Hill this Summer. The 17yo midfielder has hit the ground running at St Andrew's having only signed professional terms with the West Midlands outfit last November. Leeds are desperate to add reinforcements to their developmental squad following relegation from Premier League 2 last season, and the England U18 baller fits the mould. Victor Orta has already been in touch with his counterparts at St Andrews, and according to the Daily Mail is preparing a seven figure bid. Birmingham Under-18s coach Martyn Olorenshaw heaped praise on Hall:- “He is explosive, dynamic and has the prowess to influence games. He is a really exciting player that has the ceiling to achieve whatever he wants to achieve." please log in to view this image Leeds have no intention of accepting anything less than £47m for Raphinha Transfer guru Romano Fabrizio has announced via his Twitter account that Leeds 'have no intention of accepting anything less than €55m (£47m) for Raphinha. Leeds prized asset has 28 months left on his four-year contract, but that hasn't stopped Barcelona from launching an aggressive man hunt to bring him to the Camp Nou this Summer. Unfortunately for both parties, the coffers have all but dried up for the once affluent Catalan Giants, and as such have yet to launch a serious bid for the 25yo. There has been recent speculation about a potential swap deal involving either USA right back Sergiño Dest or Danish forward Martin Braithwaite. Although there was initial interest in Dest, Leeds have now turned their attention to Rasmus Kristensen, but face stiff competition from Borussia Dortmund and Brentford. With Barcelona losing their stranglehold on Raphinha, it is expected that other European heavyweights are likely to join the chase; and why wouldn't they? If the £47m mark is true, it represents an absolute bargain, for a player who has had such a major influence to the Brazil team since his first cap last August. please log in to view this image
Morning all. Now that we've secured a 3rd consecutive season back in the PL how many seasons will it take to be become fully established ? My view is we'll need around 4 or 5 summer transfer windows (with PL cash) to build a squad good enough to be consistently top 12 and not always looking over our shoulder at the trap door. As this summer is our third we can see there is still significant progress to be made in terms of transforming the Championship winning team into a fully competent PL one. Once we become established can then look to leave the also rans like Palace, Saints, Brighton & Wolves etc trailing in our wake regarding player recruitment and then start mixing it with the big boys towards the top of the League. Stadium development is still a decade away in my opinion.
Re Stadium development, my understanding is that its urgent as it creates much more revenue and revenue important to compete for better players and improving the squad. The directors already know what they want to do and have the building and development guru from Australia on the board with i itial plans awaiting approval. Hanging about doesnt help the plan
Sadly I agree with most of that. At my age, I don't like the idea of things taking five or ten years to develop but likely correct
Morning all @Jammy 07 I think the season ahead is huge, this is the rebuild season we should have had 12 months ago. I’d like to think we’re 4 seasons away from established but it depends on if Jesse is the right guy for the job and if this seasons signings are better than lasts seasons efforts. If we’ve brought or buy a load of Firpo, James and Rodrigo then… oh dear.
With hindsight that first summer after promotion our recruitment was very good. Llorente...still a Spanish international (good value at £18M) Koch...German international (very good value at (£13M) Raphinha...now a top Brazilian international (outstanding value at £17M) Rodrigo...ok he's struggled at times but you can't nail every signing (poor value at (£27M) 4 top players recruited and we made the mistake of not doing the same last summer. Dan James...Welsh international (average value at £25M) Firpo...the only one who's not an international and it shows (poor value at £13M) This summer so far; Aaronson...USA international (£22M) Three more top signings needed this summer then.
Morning all I'd rather concentrate on the first team then the development squad this summer. Regarding Garner what's his potential like I he's been around that Scum 1st for a couple of seasons now but hasn't broken through however he is liked by the likes of Southampton. The Raph saga is getting boring now. Either sell him or keep him. I don't want this dragged out all summer.
Dragged out all summer ? Transfer window is not even open yet and you've already run out of patience As everyone knows the transfer market is like a game of poker so let's keep our best cards until near the end and see what happens.
That’s the big unknown. Give him the benefit of the doubt as he was brought in to secure safety and he achieved it. But it was a squad he inherited, grinding out points here and there, so we’ve yet to see what he does with more players of his choice, and the style of football we’ll be playing. Jury’s out.
Looking increasingly likely that Drameh will be sold or loaned out again, as Ramsey and Kristonson show we are chasing a RB. Unless Ayling is the odd man out? New striker a priority Assume Raphinha goes and Phillips stays, we need another 2 very good midfielders DM and AM to add to Aaronson
Jesse will need pre season to have a good look at Drameh and also assess his character...unless Jacko has already given a damning verdict of course. With Aaronson coming in and having Rodrigo, Roberts, Greenwood & Klich something will likely happen there you would have thought.
koch was cheap…personally I think there was a reason there wasn’t much competition for him and he’s struggled to adapt to the physicality of the league (something he pretty much admitted himself) - not been played in his best position this year to be fair. Llorente is very good on the ball which unfortunately encourages him to think he’s messi sometimes. Main downside though is defensively- saw a stat that he had the worst Arial duel winning %age of any cb in the division which might in part explain our set piece issues and defensive issues in general. Koch and llorente are in the ok signings for me raph was obviously an excellent one. Rods has been a disappointment. So for my view that summer was probably just above par. It’s to be expected to be honest. And what was good was they were in the right positions. last summer, only one signing (firpo) was in a position of clear need and hasn’t worked out. No midfielder. All Looked very like resting on laurels… and pandering to mb’s fetish for Danny Boy
Marsch will sink or swim on this transfer window, simple as that. Aaronson looks to be a baller so happy with him so far. We also need to look at how his players take to his tactics because for me he wasnt good. He had plenty of time during over a month of international breaks but got worse, except the last 2 games. Full pre-season means no more hiding place for him, if Bielsa can change the whole set-up and style within a month….. i really hope Marsch is th man as I dont want upheaval again
Milky has a point on some of the winger issues we have. Costa waste of money and really how much did he have to do with our promotion? For me £17m plus loan fee badly spent. Douglas was supposed to be a wing back and dead ball specialist. Harrison frustrating as hell, greedy and doesn't take the simple pass. However hits goals and some assists every season, James, just why when we have Raphinha, why not spend that money on a very good midfielder and save your job Marcelo. Poveda was free and wanted by a few clubs but chose us Summerville, yes a winger fetish, plus Amari Miller
Pretty sure we were rumoured to be in for an Argentine striker who plays for NYC so could be some truth to those rumours?
… indeed foolee… Valentin castellanos. Good goal scoring record and right age. But obviously a huge step up
Hi everyone Looks useful and seems to know where the goal is but as milkyboy said, a huge step up to what he may be used to, however if he is as useful as our last Argie striker (Luciano Bechio) then i would be well pleased.
£47m seems on the low side for Raphinha, then again the transfer market is depressed at the moment. Would we be better off asking Barcelona £20 a year for three years than selling him to an English club ?
