Good Morning. It's Monday 24th July, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Monaco too strong for Leeds Leeds slipped to their second defeat of their pre-season against Ligue 1 outfit Monaco, at York City's LNER Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon. It was an encouraging performance from the Whites, at least in the first half, where Leeds were well mashalled at the back, and were stringing passes together freely, but with little creative influence in the side, failed to put the Monegasques under any real pressure. After an extended half-time break, Monaco started to turn up the pressure; gaps started to appear, and mistakes were plentiful at the back. Leeds hadn't kept a clean sheet since beating Southampton back in February, and it came as no surprise when the visitors took the lead on the hour mark. Cresswell failed to get enough depth, trying to clear a corner, and as Gnonto tried to hook the ball clear out of danger, he clipped 18yo youth midfielder Edan Diop. The ref pointed to the spot, and Ben Yedder converted. They made the game safe, 12 minutes from time, when Volland's looping header beat Meslier for pace. All in all, it was a pretty lacklustre performance from Leeds. Their lack of creativity made Bamford and Rutter's inclusion completely pointless. They're screaming out for a decent No 10, but with so many voids to fill, should we be forgetting about automatic promotion next season? Ampadu looks a bargain for £7m, he seemed to pop up everywhere. Leeds will need to unearth similar talent, if they are to have a positive influence on the Championship. please log in to view this image Wober wants out Max Wober has told the Leeds Utd hierarchy he wants out of Elland Road. The versatile defender (25), quickly became a fans favourite, after impressing, following his £11m move from Red Bull Salzburg, back in January. He quickly established himself as Leeds best defender, and a player Daniel Farke wanted to build around. News of his impending departure will devastate fans, who never in their wildest dreams, suspected the Austrian International was going to desert the Whites Daniel Farke's former club Borussia Monchengladbach eye him as a permanent replacement for Nico Elvedi, but also have the option to take him on a season long loan. It's not too often that Leeds unearth a bargain, and with four years left on his contract, it will be interesting to see if Leeds play hard ball. please log in to view this image Leece eye up Gelhardt deal Serie A strugglers Leece are eyeing up a deal to take Joe Gelhardt to the Southern Apulia region, according to reports from Italy. The 21yo, spent the second half of last season out on loan at the Stadium of light; and even though he spent much of his time having to play out of position due to an injury to Ross Stewart, he gained notable ratings. A loan move may not be the worst decision in the World. He's contracted to Leeds until the Summer of 2027, and is believed to be lower in the pecking order than Bamford. please log in to view this image Leeds could revive Darlow deal after missing out on Nubel Leeds have missed out on Bayern Munich shot stopper Alex Nubel according to Sky Sports in Germany. Florian Plettenberg has confirmed that the 26yo has rubber stamped a loan move to VfB Stuttgart. This brings an end to weeks of speculation, linking the to Elland Road this Summer. Instead, it is possible that Leeds could revive the Karl Darlow deal. He was due to complete his £5m move from Newcastle Utd to Bournemouth last week, but the Cherries are want to negotiated on the price. Further reports indicate that Darlow would prefer to stay North, where all his family and friends are! please log in to view this image
We have two burning questions at the moment. We know the 49ers want Adams Gnonto and a couple of others to stay to build a team around but in reality that means zilch as players and agents will decide that. Can't help a feeling that Cooper Ayling Bamford Shackleton will all be togging out and they're only usable as stand ins in an emergency. At this point I'll be more than happy with survival given the atrocious setup we've been left. By the way Kinnear said about four weeks before season end, we had a contingency plan for relegation, some plan
FARKE obviously not sold the project to Nubel as he decided to ignore a permanent move to Leeds in favour of a loan move to another German club. The championship project isn’t a big vote winner so far. Ampadu looks decent and capable of a higher level and came but no sign of anyone else yet. Ross McCormack has signed for Liversidge, wonder if he will end up back here with Byram
Morning all Wober for me is the worst of the bunch, he declared he will stay then jumps ship, Farke obviously believed Wober as he was team captain on the first preseason game, very disruptive. You think you have a CB pairing and then it's back to the drawing board. We need to sit down with anyone else who has this crazy loan release clause and get them signing a new contract, if they don't sign dump them in the reserves and forget about them. You'd hope that we manage to bring in a couple of first team players over the next 2-3 days, if the likes of Sinisterra and Gnonto have no crazy release fee's tell them to knuckle down and get on with it, they're going nowhere
Good morning everyone. Keeping my fingers crossed on Darlow, good reliable keeper,& not riddled with mistakes, that would then be two great signings in key positions, now for a LB, a no10 & a Striker, and i think we would be good to go.
Just for the record the more optimistic amongst us have never said we’ll walk the League this season as only you with your tongue in cheek comment about 100+ points have said that. Being competitive at the top end of the division is what most are hoping for and then with a fair wind after January we just might be able to push on for automatic promotion if all goes well. Happy to clear that up for you
I know it's a turkeyshoot on Orta and i'm no fan of his... but personally I couldn't really care less about the loan release thing that everyone is apoplectic about. Whether it's a loan option or cut price release clause it served two linked purposes. Helping get sales over the line at the time for a side that missed relegation on the last day of the previous season... and reducing wage bill if relegated. I haven't seen the clauses, i haven't compared them to contracts offered by other clubs... i haven't looked at the wage reduction element in them that secured our finances if relegated... but by definsition necessitated a sweetener. If they all had the (often used) alternative - a well-below-market-value sales release clause in them, people would be p*ssed that they were sold at a loss. And those sales could also come at any time before the transfer window closed. It's clearly not ideal, but best we can hope is that these guys have good seasons and we can flog them next summer. Likely not, because they're largely bang average, so i'm not bothered that they're going. Sinisterra, Adams maybe Jimmy and Gnonto are the only ones i'm bothered about... but also the ones i'd expect some interest in and be likely to leave clause or no clause. If we hold on to 2 or 3 of them AND spend wisely on key replacements, then that's the best of a bad situation. Will reserve all judgement until the window closes.
Need to see some defenders in this week. With Wober going we now need a LB and two CBs. In true Leeds fashion we're being linked with RBs.
And Im so glad you cleared that up too. Is that the same wind btw you were predicting last January. It never got past a light breeze
It’s crazy having so many on this loan release agreement, a complete shambles for numerous reasons. Farke, when asked about these clauses said live on TV “it is what it is, we can’t change it, we just need to learn a lesson and make sure it never happens again” That says all I need to know about this being a common thing or an Orta idea that backfired. One or two players with insertions into a contract maybe but not half a team It screws everything up right down to FFP and how we proceed with business knowing they can all return next season. The ball needed to be in our court, if we’d wanted rid of all on loans let it be our decision
I was actually waiting for you to name and shame me I have predicted we’ll finish top and break records along the way. I do reserve the right to change my mind if we start losing Sinisterra, Adams and Summerville Wober is the first damaging departure for me
5million for darlow seems a tad steep for a second string keeper who has been that for most of his career, would be better off testing the millers resolve with a go for Johansson who is about 7 years younger so would represent better value and possibly cheaper to get....
Best of what we have currently have available and has experience of leading the line in the championship. Unless Farke has a new signing in mind or has seen something that suggests Bamford is back to his best then Joffy is the best we can field on that position
Seroiusly think Sinisterra or joseph would be better up top. Joffy is a good lad but he is slow and hardly scores.
Not surprised about Gelhardt. Bamford a more senior player, better movement and hold up play. Gelhardt wasn’t rated at Sunderland I heard? Don’t think he’s all that. Think Joseph and Perkins may jump ahead of him tbh.
