Good Morning Everyone Leeds have signed Oliver Sarkic from Benfica on a permanent deal please log in to view this image The centre-forward, 20, has spent the first half of the season on loan. That deal expired at the end of December but Leeds have acted quickly to come to an agreement with the Montenegro youth international. Sarkic, whose brother Matija is on loan at Wigan from Aston Villa, was born in Lincolnshire but grew up in Belgium before representing Montenegro at Under-17, 19 and 21 level. He joined Leeds on loan over the summer and has impressed enough to earn a full-time deal, despite not yet appearing for the first team. The Anderlecht youth product said: "I'm delighted to have signed for this massive club and I hope I can bring it to where it belongs. "I've been working my socks off to prove I can be a part of this club. Sarkic was not the only signing at Elland Road yesterday. Kamil Miazek, the Polish goalkeeper who had been at the club since the Summer has signed his first professional contract please log in to view this image He celebrated in true Leeds fashion by getting sent off whilst playing for the U23's against Hull yesterday. Meanwhile in Spain, the arrival of Yōsuke Ideguchi at Culture Club is causing a lot of excitement. A spokesman for the second tier club was quoted as saying "Do you really want to please me, do you really want to make me cry"
Signing a 20 year old striker for the U23 side yet we have a few strikers in there now including young Jack Clarke, Malik Wilks who scored yesterday against Newport County, so we do have a striker who could score down there. Lets be brutally honest about these kids. Why are we bringing in players who are 20 to 24 for the kids team when good young players should be playing for the first team. If their good enough they're old enough. Are we seeing the club not bother bringing in a new striker and instead going to try a couple of kids, or are we investing in kids to sell on for profit?
So bookies now have Leeds as favourites to sign 18yo Ben Woodburn from Liverpool. See what I mean about kids, this 18yo will be expected to play as part of the loan deal with Liverpool. We have enough kids already
Me too. Ive no problem with that really as long as the first team squad is main priority. Not bothered about the youths or u23's or whatever as any decent ones will be sold anyway
On a positive Eire. It is the model that worked for Southampton if that’s what Radz / Orta is aiming for.
Young talent with potential are being signed for exactly that, their potential ... they are not being signed to go straight into the First Team, they are here to hopefully become good players for Leeds down the line ... our Academy had stuttered to a halt under Cellino, and Radz is simply fixing it ... this is a blueprint that is in place at all the top clubs, and there is nothing wrong with Leeds applying a similar strategy ... it's not as if Leeds are signing youngsters from Forest Green Rovers or Harrogate Railway, these kids are coming from seriously good clubs whose Academies are bloated and therefore Leeds are able to get them for nothing Radz has come into the club and done brilliant things ... he has stabilised the club, he has bought back Elland Road, he has fixed the Academy and put a big focus on youth, he has behaved with dignity at all times, he has done his best to rebuild the team after last season's flop ... here is the key thing, rebuilding this great club is not going to happen instantly, it will take time ... Leeds have been unstable now for a good 15 years and there is no instant fix ... at least now the club has stable leadership in place and there is a plan to get Leeds back to the Prem and stay there ... for me, all the screaming and shouting at Radz just because he hasn't signed a £50m striker is ridiculous ... I believe he is doing positive things for Leeds, and that he genuinely is doing his best to rebuild the club to become one of the top clubs in Europe again Leeds have for a long time now not been an attractive proposition for players and managers because of the turmoil and unprofessional leadership ... FFS, the Bristol Rovers manager publicly turned Leeds down not so long ago, and a donkey like Danny Graham preferred to go to a smaller club because he saw no future in joining Leeds ... when it comes to signing players it's not as simple as people seem to think it is ... firstly, the player's club needs to want to sell, the player needs to be willing to move himself and his family to Leeds, the fee has to be correct, the wages need to be acceptable etc etc ... the January window is even harder, because good players who are performing won't be sold easily, and if they are expect to pay double their value ... fringe players who are available are over valued because the selling clubs know there's desperation to get a deal done ... seriously, £75m for Van Dijk is just plain madness, but Southampton knew that Liverpool were desperate to get the player so it was easy for them to inflate his price beyond belief all I say is this, be patient, support Radz in his endeavours and help the club to build a successful team by sharing positive vibes ... that is what being a supporter is all about, standing by your club through thick and thin ... building requires patience, not constant opposition ... it's harder to build, it's easier to tear down ... Leeds United is renowned for its fantastic supporters who follow them everywhere, living the Marching On Together mantra ... this is why I don't understand the constant flow of negativity on here and the contempt for Radz ... to call him a crook and a money grabber is just plain ignorant, and I fear that next we'll be hearing chants of "Lock him up, lock him up"
I thought he intended to team up with Coleman at Sunderland who are as desperate for strikers since losing Grabadon
Billy I have no problem with the club making money and have no problem with the new way of doing business with the academy as nobody has complained more than me when Bates sacked our coaches and mothballed everything at TA. My problem is with TC telling us we are ok for strikers when we clearly arent, bringing in strikers and players then loaning them out as in the case of Jap International Ideguchi (When we are short due to Saiz) We have academy strikers coming out of ears with some out on loan too. how can we develop 8 or 10 U23 strikers, not enough game time or teaching/coaching. I also appreciate that the aim of a good academy is to bring players through and get them playing in the first team, which saves massive amounts of money and increases the value of you playing assets. You quote Man City & Chelsea academies yet none of their kids get into the first team. Chelsea have 53 kids out on loan, Man City have 40 kids out on loan and we have a Man Utd player who won academy player of the year and is shyte and going home. There has to be a happy mix and we need to be getting the kids that Man City poached from the W.Yorkshire area so that we dont just look at kids from Southern Europe.
Latest doing the rounds is that Swansea are bidding for Viera!!! if that comes off we are fooked as the Ideguchi thing looks even more stupid
The jap thing couldn't be any more stupid. We are hanging onto a play off spot by our fingernails and we are loaning out our supposed talent, To buy them and then not use them is probably more stupid than celinos lets not buy anyone in the first place. Only at leeds!
Haven’t they been pretty explicit in saying that the U23 squad they found hasn’t been up to it and so the signings have been to boost the quality at this level (with the added bonus that they mind find a gem that makes it through to first team) But the long term goal is to go back to finding and developing local talent that has been poached by Man City etc during the Bates/GFH/Cellino years But that will take 5-10 years to properly rectify so these are short term adjustments to raise the general quality at the club?
The only Viera I can find Swansea linked with is Jonathan Viera a Las Palmas player http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/...s/swansea-city-transfer-digest-swans-14124252 Ideguchi was bought with the idea that he wouldn’t get work permit until after the World Cup - the fact he has hasn’t changed the initial plan of loan him out, get more game time/experience before the World Cup (and if he has a good World Cup then he’s ours regardless of any other interest) as we have O’Kane, Viera, Phillips and Klich in that position already - his job has always been to challenge them next season
No problem with that mate, but want to know how we develop 10 young strikers especially when we need a striker in the first team, then we go to land a Liverpool 18 year old for the first team? Is the Liverpool kid not a stupid option as he is contracted to play loads of games when we already have plenty of strikers who are kids and a couple probably better than the scouse. My argument is about quantity and quality
Doc, if our kids are good enough and ready they would be in so can only surmise that they're neither. Yet.
