Good Morning. It's Thursday 18th May, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Leeds among quintet issuing legal proceedings against Toffee's Leeds Utd, along with Southampton, Leicester City, Nottingham Forest and Burnley have issued legal proceedings against Everton following the Premier League's decision not to fast-track their Financial Fair Play case against the Toffee's. The Merseyside giants find themselves in a sticky situation. Their accounts show they have overspent by £267m over the last three years but blame Covid for much of this debt (perhaps Peter Ridsdale was in charge of their accounts). Only Southampton, the two other relegated clubs and Burnley will have a case, as the legal action relates to lost Premier League revenue, minus the parachute payments, which is believed to be £300m; £100m for each relegated club. please log in to view this image Auf Wiedersehen Drameh Graham Smyth, the Chief Football writer for the Yorkshire Evening Post, has intimated that Cody Drameh's reign at Elland Road is coming to an end. He joined Leeds from Fulham, during the Summer of 2020 for £1m, after falling out with the West London outfit, a trait that followed him to Elland Road. Drameh wanted first team football, and thrived whenever he received it on a consistent basis, firstly at Cardiff, and more recently at Kenilworth Road. The Hatters are only one game away from reaching the Premier League, and if they do, have already said they want to sign the 21yo on a permanent basis. Even if Leeds stay up, Drameh has only twelve months left on his contract, and they will be keen to extract as much money as they can, rather than let him leave for nothing next Summer. According to Smyth, there's little hope Drameh will still be at Elland Road next season:- "Not very, I would say. His camp have already suggested he will be off in the summer. There was talk of a permanent exit previously, then slight glimmers of hope for a chance in the first-team, but when it became clear that he was still behind [Luke] Ayling and [Rasmus Kristensen] then that all-but sealed the deal in my opinion." please log in to view this image Should the academy be doing better For all the money Leeds have invested in their youth system, they don't seem to be making much progress. They have spent more money on the likes of Gelhardt, Gyabi and Bate than most Championship clubs would all season. Whilst it is hoped they will come good, it's been a while since any player of any real quality rose through the Elland Road ranks. Whilst Struijk, Summerville, Greenwood, Gelhardt , Perkins and Joseph are all moderate success stories, that will hopefully come good, none are considered first team starters, yet the top flight is saturated with similar aged young talent, that have risen through the ranks at other top flight clubs. We have to go all the way back to our 14/15 campaign, when Kalvin Phillips first broke into the senior ranks to find a player of real significance. Along with the likes of Charlie Taylor, Lewis Cook, Sam Byram and even Alex Mowatt, Leeds were churning out players which are not dissimilar in quality to our current academy prospects. please log in to view this image
On Drameh I have said consistently that he has had enough at Leeds. Some may say he’s not PL quality yet it’s obvious he’s better than Ayling and Kristensen, so bad manegerial handling has been the issue. Some will say he let Bielsa down but he could see what was going to happen as that successful group of kids we signed were not going to play any football last season. He was right and our kids got relegated because they wasted a season sat on an injury ravaged first team bench. Joffy got a couple of games yet even when the crowd were screaming for him to come on he only got minutes. So Drameh was correct and he got plenty of game time elsewhere. Marsch messed him about this season so he went out on loan again in January. Funny how everyone outside Leeds rates him? As far as the bought in kids go we will see massive profit if we sell them on so has been great business. Joffy has toiled away at Sunderland in a system he isn’t suited for due to an injury to the guy he was supposed to partner with. Imagine how much other clubs would pay for Summerville now, or Joffy or Greenwood and Drameh into the last year of his contract will make a healthy profit. The idea is that some of these kids play for the first team but that also depends on the coach and it was Bielsa that brought in these Kids with a view to a system he wanted to play, but he was sacked and we have since had 4 other coaches with different ideas. These kids needed stability but got chaos. I do however worry that McGurk, Miller, Bate may not make it with Leeds. Meslier did but McKinstry didn’t and leaves next month to stay in Scotland.
Morning all Regarding the legal proceedings, wasn’t this the same threat as last season. Drameh I’m sure he’ll wait and see where Leeds are at and who the coach is before making a decision Our academy, just think where we stand compared to Arsenal, City, Liverpool and Chelsea, we’re miles behind them and the talent they snap up. I think we’re doing okay in that department. How I’d imagine it should work in an ideal world, one season in the U21s then two seasons out on loan before selling, cutting loose or promoting to the first team. When I say a season in the U21s I’m assuming that we’re really talking about 18/19 year old players
Don't care if Drameh Queen stays or not. He may get better the more he matures, but I won't shed any tears if he goes. Morning all.
If you look on transfermarkt.com which is very conservative prices Gelhardt £8m Summerville £12m Drameh £4m Greenwood £4m Average price for this lot was £1m so a minimum £24m profit plus whatever we got in loan fees for Joffy and Drameh. Its good biz
Agree with a lot of what you say there Doc but....... I honestly think you overrate Drameh because he was excellent for the Under 21's and has done well for 2 half seasons in the Championship. Whenever I have watched him play for us, Cardiff and Luton, he has looked good in patches, average in others and poor even on occasion. I have never watched him for 90 minutes and thought he is ahead of Ayling or Kristianson - genuinely. Let's say Bamford goes on loan to, say, Middlesborough next year, there is every chance he would be their top scorer and Player of the Year - likewise most of our first team actually (POTY not top scorer before one of the pedantic twins jump on me). If you want a direct comparison with Drameh, I watched Djed Spence several times last year on loan at Forest. Now there was an outstanding right back and he is only a year older than Drameh. Spurs brought him from Middlesborough (his parent club) for £ 10 million last year and he hasn't had a sniff for them and has actually ended up back out on loan in France. The point is, the gap from U21's to the Championship is big but it is just as big again from the Championship to the Premier League. Don't get me wrong, I would love him to sign a new contract, knuckle down and earn his right to be first choice right back. No manager will not pick him if he is the best right back at the club unless of course, he is a big time Charlie and pi$$es everyone else off, and that might well be the case! Can't say I would blame him for wanting to go due to lack of game time but let's see if he moves upwards (rumours of interest from Newcastle) and, if he does, whether he is first choice or if he gets loaned back out. No doubt, if Luton go up and sign him permanently he will play but that is slightly different to assuming he is better than players already in the Premier League (meant with no disprespect to Luton btw).
They're a tough bunch to put a value on aren't they? All have shown enough promise and are young enough to put a decent ticket on... all have also a few question marks on them and Drameh has a short contract. We seem to have a history of letting young talent go relatively cheap... but then often see them not setting the world on fire, so maybe there was a reason for it. Profit for any footballer is a bit dependant on the argument you want to make. Salaries are so huge now, with signing on fees, agent cuts, sell-on clauses. Sometimes there's loan fees sometimes the loaning club just pays wages or proportion. There's an intangible opportunity cost of who else could have been doing their job. All a bit muddy really. But on the whole, I think it's fair to say we'd do alright out of that bunch.
Not sure why everyone’s worried about what our young players are worth. Are some of you lot on commission
I meant to say as well, Jack Clarke looked an outstanding prospect for us in the Championship and went to Spurs for decent money. Never made it, got loaned out a few times and then sold to Sunderland and playing really well again...... in the Championship!!
