Good Morning. It's Tuesday 30th January, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Leeds pinning hopes on Godfrey Leeds have submitted a second offer in as many days, seemingly pinning all their hopes on signing Ben Godfrey until the end of the season, with an obligation to buy in the Summer. The versatile 26yo has fallen down the pecking order at Goodison Park following the arrival of James Tarkowksi. He has made just two league appearances this season, and Everton are desperate to get him off their books. It is believed that the Toffee's are not interested in loaning Godfrey out, and already have interested parties abroad bidding for his services. Whilst this pours cold water on Leeds initial approach, they are now offering a loan to buy clause, which would activate this Summer. Leeds must be careful. They do not have the best of relationships with Everton. The Whites are part of a trio of clubs suing the Toffee's for £300m for loss of earnings, having been relegated last season. The Wilfred Gnonto affair last Summer almost came to blows, not to mention Jack Harrison joining the blue side of Merseyside on a season long loan (without a loan fee). please log in to view this image Leeds miss out on trio of players Leeds have missed out on the signatures of David Brooks, Kalvin Ramsay and Ali Al-Hamadi. Iranian International striker Al-Hamadi has signed a four and a half year contract with high flying Ipswich Town. He has netted 27 goals in 48 appearances for AFC Wimbledon, but with the terms of his contract dwindling, the Dons agreed an initial fee of just over £1m, though with add-ons, will rise considerably! Leeds have also missed out on David Brooks, having monitored him all month. The 26yo playmaker is joining fellow promotion hopefuls Southampton until the end of the season. Out of the three, losing out on Brooks to a promotion rival will hurt the most, especially if he can re-find the form of last season. Lastly, and probably not so important, Calvin Ramsay is set to join Bolton, where he can be playing first team football every week. please log in to view this image Leeds turn their attention to Benson Leeds may turn their attention to Burnley reject Manuel Benson after Southampton lost interest, following the capture of David Brooks. With only 133 minutes of league time all season, and a pathetic 'Whoscored' rating of 6.10, the 26yo Belgium winger has about as much chance of making an impact, as the Tories do of winning the next election; but with less than 48 hours of the transfer window remaining, beggars can't be choosers!!! Benson offers versatility up front, but if he's not good enough for one of the relegation favourites, why would Leeds want him? He has only made the bench seven times this season. please log in to view this image
Morning all. Thankfully only a couple of days left of this January window nonsense. Haven't bothered with what other clubs are at, but has anyone any idea if any of the top six will be any stronger. We wont, but we wont really be weaker either. If other clubs haven't strengthened significantly, I wouldn't be too bothered, I suspect they probably haven't
Southampton and Ipswich have definitely recruited well and are therefore stronger than what they were on the 1st Jan 2024.
Not our player and maybe never will be but would have thought Ben Godfrey would be a stellar aquisition at this level.
Isn't it an iffy one though if obliged to buy at end of season. If we were promoted, do we need to have to buy lads that couldn't get into a poor pl team. Damned if you do and damned if you don't I suppose
We are weaker without Spence. We have to remember he had been out of action for 6 months and was only going to get better.
To be fair, Leeds shouldn't have put themselves in this position, by i) Getting rid of Spence (who was returning from 6 months of injury), ii) At least getting a replacement in place before getting rid of Spence iii) Using September, October, November and December to line up players that will improve the team. If they can't do that, they are obviously in the wrong job!!!
I have really enjoyed this season. It's been nice to be a big fish, and gobble up our opponents, but what happens at the end of the season IF we don't go up. We can more or less guarantee that not only will be lose our loanee's for another season, but will also see Summerville, Rutter, Ampadu et all leave the club for well under market value, as it has come to be expected from Leeds Utd! It's got nothing to do with going down to the Championship. Look at the impressive sales figures from Leicester and Southampton! James Maddison £46.3m with one year left on his contract Harvey Barnes £44m with two years left on his terms Romeo Lavia £62.1m Ward-Prowse £34.8m Tino Livramento £37.2m Nathan Tella £23.3m
You might be right but previously under Bielsa everyone was willing to give it one more shot to achieve promotion and players like KP staying were absolutely vital. Maybe everyone will feel the same with Farke and consider it unfinished business if we miss out this time around.
I just feel that whilst the players are doing there bit, the hierarchy couldn't organise a piss-up in a Brewery. They've had months to identify better players, make enquiries nd put deals in place to strengthen us during the second half of the season, but seem content to gamble our future in the play offs.
This is my take and somebody will probably tell me I'm wrong and I need to **** off. The owners care about filling their pockets with profits. Yes I know that's every owner but you've seen what's happened with these clubs owned by Americans. They've basically gone backwards. When Klopp goes in the summer we'll see it with Liverpool. Despite the feeling on this board I think they brought in the wrong man. Yes he's had 2 promotions but he's also had one relegation and fired from Norwich who at the time were piss poor and sat in 20th place. I'll say it again the board should have brought Viera in and have a long term strategy. Since the interview Farke did when he was appointed it feels like they had a 2 year plan and that was to get promoted in 2 years. I also get the feeling that they have this American style rebuild plan that takes years. Give it a couple of years when they can get a decent price for the likes of Summerville and they will be gone. At the end of the day it's about the 49ers bank balance
Why do you think Viera was the right man, left Palace under a cloud, had a bad relationship with half the squad, poor man management. With regards Summerville, the vast majority ofteams have to sell to survive, our owners are no different to any other in that respect. Players want to play at the top of their game, the top ones soak them all up, Leicester have sold some serious quality over the last 4 years, its football as it stands
Clough left us under a ****ing thunderstorm but was amazing at Forest. Different club different situation. Why Viera because he got Palace to 12th in the Premiership. Not struggling in 20th with the worst defeat record in Premier League history. The owners will sell players for their own gains. Where do you think Darlows transfer feee came from? Rodrigo's wages was there. We've seen it with scum and Liverpool the owners don't care
And Palace's results improved significantly when Viera left and Roy took over. The Clough comparison is ridiculous. No owner does it for the fun of it, you seem to be living in the past what with, caring owners and Clough comparisons.
