Good Morning. It's Tuesday 7th July, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road. YEP Journalist quizzed about Costa's price tag In a recent Q and A session Graham Smyth was asked whether winger Helder Costa lived up to his 15m price tag. The Yorkshire Evening Post journalist leapt to the defence of the 26yo with the following comments. “I don’t think he’s lived up to the price tag, but there have been positives in his play that can’t be overlooked. “He’s a great dribbler of the ball; his pace is very useful on the counter-attack. “I don’t think we’ve seen enough end product yet, not by a long shot. But Bielsa evidently likes him a lot.” This is Costa’s worst season statistically in the Championship as he has only scored three goals and provided four assists compared to his 2016/17 season when he scored 10 goals and provided eight assists and then his 2017/18 season when he scored five goals and provided six assists. Will Costa be able to cut it in the Premiership? Did Leeds overpay for the winger? Have we seen the best of him yet? please log in to view this image Leeds set their sights on Celtic star Leeds Utd are being heavily linked with Celtic star Odsonne Édouard. The 22yo forward has become one of the hottest properties in Europe after netting 28 goals in 45 appearances this term. Hoops boss Neil Lennon will be desperate to keep his best player at Celtic Park and has slapped a 40m price tag around the neck of his prized asset. The 22-year-old French youth international has scored 61 goals at just under a goal a game since arriving in Glasgow from Paris Saint-Germain in 2018. please log in to view this image Klich - I don't feel tired yet Leeds Midfielder Mateusz Klich has been talking to the Yorkshire Evening Post about team fitness levels as the Championship finale draws closer. “I feel good,” “When you keep winning games and you are in first place you don’t really feel tired. You want to play the next game after the next game and I don’t really feel tired yet. I am probably going to feel it after the season. “It’s going to be a very short break and I will need to recharge my batteries but thanks God I feel okay. I don’t have any injuries so I hope I can play as much as I can.” “It’s a hard achievement to be fair, playing two whole seasons in the Championship is 92 league games. "It’s very demanding, very physical and before Leeds I never thought I would be able to do it. "But I am okay, and it’s doable.” “I’m pleased because it ended up in the goal and that’s important for me,” “It wasn’t the best strike in my life but a goal is a goal and we won.” “That’s the thing with our style,” “We always play the same football, even if we are winning, even if it’s a close game like one-zero, we still go forward. “A couple of times we got punished for it but we are not going to change and this is the way we play. “I enjoy it a lot and it allows me to get high up on the pitch and press high. That’s very important for us.” “After the last game, I was saying to my parents and my girlfriend that I cannot play worse than I did against Luton,” “I wanted to play better and I wanted to score a goal finally because it’s about time. “We all played good, they were very hard conditions, the pitch wasn’t great but we didn’t want to use that as an excuse. "We wanted to show that we will fight to the end.” please log in to view this image
Before the break in March, Costa was playing better and better! Not many players are shining since the return.
Good Morning to Matt and co from a cool Bardsey Well the Celtic boy knows where the net is and its a start because as I pointed out we need 2 strikers at least .Look what has happened to Villa they repalaced vcan't wait to get these next 2 weeks over withAbraham spending £40m but the player got injured so they have no striker and simply can.t score goals and look likely to get relegated along with Norwich who spent nothing Costa is far too expensive what about getting Dan James on loan next season
Morning all. Costa was putting his best performances in busy before the break. He was starting to look the player we wanted for 15 million. For whatever reason he is finding it hard to get back to that after 3 months off. I think another pre season with Bielsa will see him turn into a bargain at that price. To get him and Harrison for 22 million is a good piece of business. To replace one or both for players who could come in and do what they do or better in the side would be difficult and expensive.
I don't fancy our chances of getting Dan James on loan. He's played in almost every game for scum this season. If we go up we need to spend big in three areas, forward, centre back and a playmaker to replace Hernandez who I think would probably be best used as a specialist substitute next year. Of course we'll need more than that but realistically our other signings would need to be cheaper utility players unless we come into some money.
Costa is pay over 4 years I believe, so just over 4 million a year, and 30 then so will have sell on value if we don't keep after that.
Morning all. I was thinking back to the end of last season and Shackleton, I had huge hopes and expectations that he’d play a major role this season. Not many of our youth players have managed to become established over the last two years. If we get promoted you’d hope we’d have discovered our own Daniel James by now, sadly not much breaking through
Kind of unbelievable when you consider we have one of the worlds finest in Orta responsible for signing probably 10k players for u23's
Yes Shackleton looked a real prospect towards the end of last season. I think he got injured and that kept him out and then he couldn't break back into the team. Give him more game time and I think he could be excellent.
I've a horrible feeling that Shackleton will go the same way as McPhail, great talent but lack of game time will ruin him. Costa is a poor player imo,showing the odd glimpse isn't good enough, especially for that money. Klich is a model professional, really like his attitude. No way will be spending £40m on one player. Infact doubt we'll spend £40M on the whole squad.
Most of the promising younger ones seem to have had an interrupted season with injury etc. Shackleton, Davis, Gotts all played in the first team and then had spells on the sidelines injured. Stevens was looking useful, getting game time ahead of Jack Clarke and then had a lengthy ban for gambling. Edmonson worked hard all season to get up to Bielsa's high standards and was then injured just as he was ready. Plus once you're out for while it's probably at least another month to get back up to the required level as well as having to wait for another opportunity. Apart from Edmonson they've all worked their way back into contention and along with Struijk have been on the bench since the resumption. Difficult situation as currently there are no U23 matches to aid match fitness and catch the eye. Bogusz was on the bench for the first 3 games and then played in the Carabao Cup along with McCalmont with both failing to feature again. Plenty more talent available as well but with their developement paused because of Covid-19 it really does put some of their careers at risk unfortunately.
Morning - I like Costa and he offers us an attacking threat with his speed, but he’s no David Batty when it comes to challenging for a 50/50 ball.
Maybe I'm bonkers but I want Fulham to win today against Forest. That would move them to within 5 points of us but with us having a far better GD I feel we'd be able to hold them off. It would also move Fulham to within 4 points of WBA and with them meeting on 14th July a Fulham win/draw in that fixture could really work in our favour. The alternative is, Fulham lose tonight and resign themselves to the play offs coasting through the remaining games resting players etc. Now I've written it, I'm not sure anymore ????
How can you possibly say that? One day he might actually challenge for a 50/50 & prove you so, so wrong!