Good Morning. It's Friday 25th August, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Leeds capture Piroe in £12m deal Leeds fans slept easy last night for the first time in months, after it was revealed that Joel Piroe had completed his £12m switch from Swansea City. The 24yo marksman had been top of Leeds Utd's wish list for a while, and securing his signature is a massive coup, especially after the Summer of discontent around Elland Road. Although in the final year of his contract, £12m represents a great deal for Leeds Utd. He has a proven track record of doing what a bona-fide No 9 does best, netteing 20 goals in each of his two full seasons as a Swansea player (46 goals in 96 appearances). At the age of 24, has many good years in front of him. It also means Leeds don't have to rely on wheeling out Bamford, until he is actually fully fit. Messrs Steinsson and Hammond would have been under a great deal of pressure to deliver. Leeds have missed out on a host of top targets this Summer, and their squad has been decimated by departures. Farke has not even been able to name a full complement of substitutes. He was on the wish list of many top Championship clubs, including Leicester City and Southampton, though it's fair to say Leeds need was greater, especially when taking into account Patrick Bamford's injury record. please log in to view this image Amiri on his way to ER Leeds have agreed a deal for German International Nadiem Amiri. The attacking midfielder, currently applies his trade with Bayer Leverkusen. He caught the eye of Farke, whilst playing against his Borussia Monchengladbach side last season. According to Sky Sports journalist (in Germany) Florian Plettenberg, the soon to be 27yo turned Leeds down just 24 hours ago, in favour of Marseille, but the Ligue 1 outfit lost interest after Leeds tabled a bid, believed to be somewhere in the region of €5m (£4.3m) and €6m (£5.1m). According to an update from transfer guru Fabrizio Romano earlier this morning, a move to West Yorkshire now seems to be on the cards. please log in to view this image Leeds tracking Firpo replacement Leeds and Swansea City are being strongly liked with a move for Stoke City left wing-back Josh Tymon. The 24yo hasn't had the best of times in the last few seasons after being tipped for greatness earlier on his his career. Given that he has only two years left on his contract, Stoke have decided to cash in! When on-form, Tymon would be one of the best wing backs in the Championship. A move away from the Bet365 Stadium may well regalvanise his career. Leeds are in desperate need for a strong, attacking left wing-back. Hjelde, Firpo and Byram can all do a job there, but it's an area of the pitch where Leeds are weak. please log in to view this image
Lots of talk about Genks Jo Paintsil coming and Southampton were in the process of agreeing a deal with Genk but the player has refused to go, so maybe he wants Leeds? Also Leeds and Swansea going for Josh Tyman?
Good work @ellandback. Doing the daily news is time consuming and its appreciated. Also a mention to @Doc for his weekend work.
Morning all, So far the 49ers have hired the most successful championship coach in recent years and last seasons top scorer. They are a long way from Ortas gambles/projects. Every week the damage that man did to the club becomes more and more obvious and damning.
Kinell first nothing, now i can't keep up with what's going on, i know it's rumours once again for the above, but what's happened with Piroe, makes it much more believable. Farke in full swing on a rebuild, and if he keeps that up (earlt days i know) is in Danger of becoming a fans legend like Bielsa. Long may it continue. A very very good morning to each and every one of you.
Morning all Steps in the right direction but I'm still not convinced by the 49ers. So there's 4 players signing by the end of the week so today. One is Piroe who signed and the other is Amiri. I'd love to know who the other 2 are.
I suspect the 49ers weren't going to be rushed, as they had an eye on FFP. Get it right first time and take notice of what Farke says. Listen to the manager? Whatever next.
The squad is looking better already. If one or both of Gnonto and Sini stay along with a fit again Summerville then going forward we look very potent and most championship defences will be bricking it. Rutter and a reinvigorated Poveda means we are spoilt going forward, expecially if Amiri signs. Piroe backed by Bamford, who will hopefully relish a lightened work load from the bench, and Joffy hopefully means goals with the above feeding them. Get O Brien in and the centre of midfield looks strong with him and Gray alongside Amapdu. This allows Shack and Greenwood to be back up with they are perfectly set up for. The link to Tymon would be the final piece of the puzzle for me. A back four of Byram/Drameh, Rodon, Struijk and Tymon looks solid especially with Cooper and Cresswell to cover cb and Ayling & Firpo to cover full backs. Chuck this in with two good goalkeepers and the squad is very very good.
So, after my initial push for Gyokeres early on I advocated the signing of Piroe as the next target. This is why.... Piroe instantly becomes the best finisher at the club. With the chances he had last season he was expected to hit 20 goals. He got 19. It's not great but when we look at Bamford who scored 4 goals but was expected to score 9 with his chances it's clear to see that we've just had a massive upgrade. His link up play is very good. Quite happy to drop deep to get the ball. He's deceptively big and strong and can hold the ball up. He has a decent touch and can turn defenders. He is equally adept at spinning in behind the defence even though he isn't that speedy. He's a bit of an all rounder who can also play out wide and deeper if needed. This dropping deep is key to how he could fit in here. Even if he doesn't go on and hit his 20 goals a season he will provide that focal point where the inverted wingers like James, Poveda, Gnonto but particularly Summerville and Sinisterra can run in behind him. They should benefit massively. The next issue we have with Piroe is a serious one. We desperately need a playmaker (Pablo type) who can play that key pass. Last week vs West Brom Rutter made loads of very good runs but nobody found him. Piroe will have the same issue. It won't be because he's ****, it will be because we won't supply him. It needs resolving. I don't know this German fella we are chasing but he is supposed to be our next Pablo. If he is, and we get him, expect Piroe to score 20+ goals for us. The next massive deal for us is getting to the end of the Saudi window with Sinisterra still being here. He is an assist king and is easily the best player in the Championship if we retain his services. Things are looking up but there is still a few additions to come to really cement us as promotion favourites. He can take free kicks and penalties which is something we have lacked.
A word on Tymon and the full back situation. It will be interesting to see how this will work out. So far Farke tried Hjelde at left back but he wasn't an all out left back. He wanted Ayling to push on to the right wing giving us the width and an extra man allowing Summerville to tuck inside. When we were attacking Hjelde became the left hand side of a back 3 with Dan James hanging wide left to give us the width on the left. This is where Tymon links look false OR moving forward will Ayling be told to hold his defensive position and sit in on the right hand side of a back 3 allowing the left back to push on. Its strange as Dramah would probably the better attacking full back than Ayling so is this why he is sticking with Ayling? Tymon and Firpo are both attacking full backs on the left and I don’t want to see either sit in as a back 3. That's scary. One left back who is extremely comfortable on left side back 3 is Charlie Taylor. It's also noticeable that Byram is used differently to Hjelde. Hjelde holds his position and tucks inside whereas Byram is allowed to push forward much more with Ampadu sitting deeper as cover much like Phillips under Bielsa whilst Gray roams a bit further forward. This is why I don't like the term double pivot as it's not as cut and dried as that. It's lazy to label it double pivot. One thing is certain, Farke has not settled his back line just yet. The full back position is still being tampered with. We need consistency on the left side and Tymon isn't the answer imo. Charlie Taylor is. One thing is for certain. We need to buy a ****ing left back. Preferably a ****ing left footed ****ing left back.
Drameh is wanted by Brentford, West Ham and Palace from the prem and Southampton from the championship. There is also interest from Germany and Italy. Weird that he isn’t starting for Leeds, so suspect he will be leaving along with Hjelde who has also fallen down the pecking order
I've done Dan James a disservice by forgetting him. He's been good so far this season and makes me realise that not on my could we have one of the best teams this season we will probably have one of the strongest benches ever seen in the championship
Reasons to be cheerful, part three Reasons to be cheerful, part three Reasons to be cheerful, part three Reasons to be cheerful, one, two, three Reasons to be cheerful, part three LEEDS FINALLY BUY A PROVEN STRIKER!!!!!!!
I get that. However, take the sentiment out of it and he fits perfectly. He want to come back here. Rumours are it wouldn't command a fee (if there was a fee it would be minimal). He wouldn't have to uproot his family. His wages wouldn't be too high. He's a Leeds fan. Can comfortably play left centre back, as a standard left back or a wing back who has a wicked cross on him. He was the only full back who comfortably had Raphinha in his pocket too. Fans have accepted Byram back. Sometimes a player and a club at certain times just fit together.
There have been occasions on here when someone has posted that we're due to give someone a thrashing. It hasn't happened. For the first time in a very looooooong time I'm now getting genuinely buzzed that soon we really are gonna rip someone a new one and score a ****ing hat full
Now we finally have someone who knows where the back of the net is, that's entirely possible with the chances that we make, Piroe is a good instinctive striker who get's in the right place at the right time, then more often than not buries it.
