Good Morning. It's Monday 27th December, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Villa game off Tomorrow's Premier League clash at Villa Park has, as expected been called off. This will come as welcome news both on and off the pitch, as Bielsa's men can recuperate after a gruelling, and injury ravaged three months. Their match game will be on January 2nd against Burnley at Elland Road. If there was ever a six pointer, this is it! please log in to view this image Brazil sources claim 42m Raphinha sale Reports in Brazil state that Bayern Munich have secured the services of Leeds Winger Raphinha in a deal worth between 40m - 42m. It's fair to say you'd have to go back to May 28th 1975 to see a similar injustice. Fortunately, The YEP have rubbished the article, though they have claimed that the club are working tirelessly to try and tie the Brazilian International to a new and improved deal at Elland Road. His current contract expired in the Summer of 2024, but Leeds are hopeful of extending this for a further 24 months. A footballer's career is short! Are Leeds doing enough to keep their best players happy? It's not all about wages, it's about winning silverware, something which is unlikely in the immediate future. If you were in Raphinha's (or Phillips) shoes, would you stay? please log in to view this image Double standards going unnoticed A recent article in the Times disclosed that all 82 members of the Leeds Utd staff have been inoculated against Covid 19. The list is not exclusive to the players and coaches, even the tea lady at the canteen has had her jabs. Whilst Leeds Utd have shown the utmost responsibility, what about the clubs who haven't? Many top flight teams have less than 50% of their squad immunised, yet they are still afforded the luxury of having their games postponed, due to covid outbreaks! If the clubs can't help themselves by getting their players vaccinated, why should the league bale them out? Everton's Boxing Day clash at Turfmoor was postponed, not just because of Covid, but injuries too. In a statement Rafa Benitez claimed 'it was unfair as he had six injuries and five players down with Covid, and the League agreed! ' He didn't mention that he has a squad of 28 players. They concluded that the club will not be able to fulfil their fixture this weekend as a result of an insufficient number of players available to play due to Covid and injuries.v The Premier League only grants a postponement if a club has fewer than 14 players -- 13 outfield players and one goalkeeper - available, with the board examining requests on a case-by-case basis. Marcelo Bielsa is a man of principle, and would not dream of trying to use the rule book to Leeds advantage, even though the rest of the Top Flight are far less scrupulous. please log in to view this image
Morning all I’ve read a few reports that Bayern have not made contact with Leeds not alone submitted an offer, I also posted on another thread this morning an image of Kalvin on a karaoke machine singing he’s not leaving so let’s see. I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and those who’ve got poorly loved ones or are poorly themselves I hope as we head towards the new year that you all receive more than a fare share of more positive news in 2022 Matt thanks too for managing to keep the Breakfast Debate going for another year even when you’ve had to scratch deep for the news articles
Morning all, I hope you all had a merry Xmas. I would like to echo what Ristac has said in thanking Ell for keeping this daily debate going. I know we give you grief at times but I'm sure we all appreciate the work you put in. The Raphinia story is a perfect example of social media blowing things out of proportion. As someone who is slightly older and wiser i saw the holes in the story right away and disregarded it. However there is a large element of social media users who treat Twitter as a legitimate news source. These are the ones who have snowballed this non story. He may well be sold in the summer, certainly not January, but certainly not at the price mentioned.
There are rumours of a 50m eur release clause for Raph, don’t know if there’s substance to that. Irrespective, to be honest, whilst it’s lighter than you’d hope, in the current market I personally don’t think the fee talked about is AS far off the mark as most Leeds fans would think. Transfer values are driven by a combination of the needs of the buyer, the leverage of the player and the financial situation of the seller. Sometimes that means you see really high fees for a player and fans think that that is the new norm when really it’s circumstance. Ie is Ben white worth 50m etc. I really like Raph he makes things happen out of nothing has bags of skill and a good work ethic. But like a lot of flair players he has days where nothing comes off, he often tries too much in the wrong situations and his defensive positioning needs work. I say this as I can see why a top team would want him… and why they wouldn’t. Sometimes these maverick type players are better suited to being a big fish in a smaller pond rather than playing a bit part to strict instructions in a better side. Of course playing for a top team he wouldn’t be double teamed every match and would have better players around him… he could really shine and they may think they can polish off any rougher edges. So without a release clause would I want more than 50m eur. Of course I would, but unless a money bags club was desperate for him I think £50-60m is probably closer to par than the £100m some fans seem to think. Only grealish, sancho and lukaku I think went for more than that across Europe in the summer.
Echoing the sentiments of others re Ell and the Sterling job he does to stir debate on here. … has copped some flak for click-baiting this year which I kind of thought was his job. Seems like blaming a fisherman for fishing if I can push the analogy. And he continues to land new morons for the forum! Great job all round!
Morning all, my surgery been cancelled because if Omicon so will be around a bit more this week after all. Raphinha is in talks with Leeds about his contract and Bayern have deffo not spoken to Leeds, so therefore as we speak there is no truth to the story. £40m is not enough anyway. I had to laugh at Tuchel complaining how unfair it is when he has to play while other clubs say they have a couple of players out with covid. Well Tuchel has a massive squad and massive U23 squad, whereas we are having real injury problems and forced to play. The Villa match is called off because a couple of players got it, so should help a but. But lets be honest an injured player should be worth more than a player with covid. We had 50% of our squad out injured and Some clubs crying because 3 players out with covid and get match called off. Yet another fk up from the fk up Premier League Leeds have done everything possible to protect players, staff and all backroom staff. Rob Price has been brilliant and everyone at the club bought into it because of Robs family bereavements. Still dont get why some clubs have only 50% jabbed, but when you consider that 260,000 NHS workers are refusing the jab?
Talkshite talking about the Leicester result from yesterday. No talk of naivety or the need for Rodgers to change his tactics. Apparently the reason they had six put past them is their terrible injury record with them having four players out. Poor ****ing Leicester
Morning everyone. I hope you all had as good a Christmas as you could in your circumstances. What I took from the results yesterday was that, even though we've been devastated with injuries over suchba difficult period of games, we're no worse than other teams in this league with more players available to choose from. Leicester also got thumped by Citeh. Norwich got hammered by Arse. Villa got beaten at home to an 'out of form' Chelsea. West Ham also seem to be stumbling just before our double header so it could have been worse. I think once we get some bodies back we'll find out that we're better than the **** around us. I just don't know how long it will take.
Actually that's the same as us. We could not compete because of unjuries. With four of our first choice avaliable the result would have been different.
Totally support what Ristac was saying about poorly loved ones. In terms of transfer stories, it’s inevitable that media ply stories about whose coming or going. I don’t believe there will be much coming into ER ( likely none) or much going out (other than perhaps fringe players towards the end of the window). Main reason being FFP and Marcelo. I don’t have a major problem with that, though a couple of midfield/striking options if “Bielsa-ready” would be a huge help. Think it’s inevitable that Raphina will move on, less so Kalvin (hate him to leave). It’s inevitable because we can’t rebuild under FFP without moving players out, irrespective of any monies the 49’s bring in. Without massively up scaling commercial/ match day revenue (which is some years off) we have no choice but to look at better player trading, buying low/selling high. It’s not an exact science, and mistakes will be made, but that is the model Radz has outlined, and I think it’s fit for purpose for a newly promoted club like ours, however unpopular it might be. For my part, I’ll support my team as I’ve done for the last 55 yrs. For me, it’s the best football I’ve witnessed us playing in that time, though the 70-74 period was pretty special. MOT
Was hoping to meet you lot again next season, but I don't think it will happen - looks like we're both going down......... Bit late for me to wish you a merry xmas, so I'll just go for a Happy New Year and all the best in the Championship.....
