Good Morning. It's Wednesday 5th June, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Champions League finalists eye Gruev deal Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund are pondering a shock bid for Leeds midfielder Ilea Gruev, according to Sky Sport Deutschland. The 24yo Bulgarian International only joined the Whites last Summer, in a £5m deal from Werder Bremen, and has proved to be both consistent and reliable, especially with his break-up play. Given the amount of games the Bundesliga Champions participated in last season, they are looking to boost their squad, and see Gruev as a safe option. Leeds have already turned down an approach from an unnamed Premier League side this Summer, so will not expect a better offer to come in from the Continent, even if it is from the Bundesliga Champions. Gruev is settled. It's not worth Leeds selling him unless they can at-least double/triple their money, as they'll have to replace any player that leaves, and the profit margin will be negligible. please log in to view this image Steinsson preparing to swoop on Blades contract rebel Leeds are preparing to poach highly rated striker Daniel Jebbison away from Bramall Lane this Summer when his contract expires with the Blades. The England Youth International managed just twenty minutes of game time all season due to various injuries, and bizarrely a blood clot! Various reports indicate that Leeds Director of Football Gretar Rafn Steinsson is not the only fan of the 20yo. Everton, Leicester City and Ipswich Town are also carefully monitoring the situation. Leeds will need a much better start to next season than last, and given Bamford's injury record, cannot afford to gamble on the fitness of another stricken striker, however promising. Given that Summerville will almost certainly leave, and Piroe is as fancied as Tories Electoral Campaign, Daniel Farke will need to find an established striker capable of registering 25 goals next season, if Leeds are serious about a top two finish. please log in to view this image Young stars not progressing Apart from Archie Gray, Leeds reputation of nurturing young stars have taken a shocking nose dive in recent years with Gelhardt, Cresswell, Greenwood, Gyabi, Klaesson, Shackleton, Poveda, Perkins, Bate, McGurk and Miller miraculously all failing to make the grade after Millions being spent on transfers, development and wages. Why has it gone so horribly wrong for the Whites as far as their development talent goes? please log in to view this image
Te the youth thing they’re simply not good enough. Blown up out of all proportions by Leeds fans. Creswell and Gelhardt are still seen by some as the solution to every problem even global warming. Our scouting for the most part has been rubbish. Whoever has that job now had better be up to it
Good morning Still cannot understand why Klaeson was never given a proper run of games, just the three or so when Meslier & Darlow were out, and in those three looked solid as a rock, obviously there was something wrong somewhere. And why are we supposed to be sniffing around a 20yo Sheffield Utd crock, Jesus surely we can scout better than that, hopefully just clickbait, but if it aint, i would sack the whole recruiting team . Hope we can keep hold of Gray/Gruev/james as they were three of only a few that seemed to constantly give their all last season.
Morning all Most of those youngsters we did not nurture ourselves, I'd argue the ones we did are better than those we brought in. When you have coaches and talent spotters as good as those at Man City and Arsenal, and when those clubs are willing to allow a young player to leave for £1m-£1.5m then they are saying they are not going to make the grade, we are the fools spending that kind of money thinking they are wrong. Gyabi had a season ending injury 10 games into his loan spell, I think we were idiots paying £5m for him but benefit of the doubt, lets see how he performs when he is fit again, problem is he has wasted a year of his development time
Gelhardt hasn't fulfilled his early promise. He didn't shine at Sunderland either. Overhyped. Cresswell excelled at Millwall but we haven't used him. He will be a solid Championship defender for years to come unless he goes abroad. Not a failure at all, just not quite made it at Leeds current level. Greenwood will be okay but similarly to Cresswell is just short of the quality needed at Leeds. He is mid Championship level. Gyabi is an interesting one. At Leeds has been used as a pivot in midfield. At Plymouth they played him as a 10 and he looked really really promising until injury finished his season. Don't give up on him yet but if he is to break through then it probably has to be this pre season. Klaesson is a good keeper. Happy to sell Meslier and let Klaesson fight for the spot in the first team with Darlow. Shackleton needs to go, he's probably league 1 level. Poveda will play for a Sheff Wed type team for years to come. We shouldn't have let McGurk go. Miller and Perkins are ****e. Lewis Bate is a great footballer. I think he will climb the ladder as he gets older but his time at Leeds is done. Mujica, Caprile are both now really solid top flight players in their respective leagues. Mujica looks like going for big money this summer. Summerville only cost a million and his fee this summer will more than pay for the failures.
In the couple of games Klaesson played in, he had to make just one save of note - so effectively he's untested. The Cup exit to Salford was embarrassing. During the 8-7 penalty loss it was like Darlow was playing dodgeball. Marcos would have done better between the stix.
He was good with his feet, calm, never stopped talking to his defence and he is still very young. He had one save to make and he made it. What more do you want? I'm not a fan of Darlow but he has experience of winning this league before. It would be nice competition for the first team. Genuinely don't think we'd miss Meslier and he would command a decent fee. My main point was about the "failing youth" at Leeds. It's not true. We've had quite a few make 1st team appearances and more than a few make profit. A very small percentage of kids make the grade. I'd probably say that we punch way above average. It's far from a failure.
Maybe if fans would stop the bigging up of the u21’s as they progress it wouldn’t seem like such a failure when they don’t make the expected grades
Since Cellino left and we started the youth system back up we have bought and sold (only for youth teams and players developed from youth setup) Figures from Transfermarket. 17/18 Outs. Charlie Taylor free transfer (was he free?) Ins. Jay Roy Grot £1.6 million. Aapo Halme £0.56 million. 18/19. Outs. Ronaldo Viera £7.35 million. Ins. Mateusz Bogusz £0.1 million. 19/20 Outs. Jack Clarke £11 million. Bailey Peacock-Farrell £2.75 million. Tom Pearce £0.325 million. Aapo Halme £0.225 million. Ins. Liam McCarron £0.29 million. 20/21 Outs. None for cash. Ins. Illian Meslier £6.5 million Joe Gelhardt £1 million. 21/22 Outs None for cash. Ins. Kris Klaesson £2.4 million. Sam Greenwood £3 million Leo Hjelde £1 million. 22/23 Outs. Kalvin Phillips £49 million. Lief Davis £1.2 million. Mateusz Bogusz £1 million. Ins. Georginio Rutter £34 million. Darko Gyabi £5.8 million. Wilfred Gnonto £4.5 million. 23/24. Outs. Leo Hjelde £1.75 million. Ins. None for cash. Spent £60.75 million. Gained £74.6 million. Profit =£13.85 million. We still have assets in the first team squad.... Summerville (25) Georginio (25) Gnonto (15) Struijk (8) Greenwood (1) Klaesson (1) Meslier (8) Gray (35) Shackleton (1) Joseph (3) Cresswell (4) Gyabi. (2) Gelhardt (1) Crew (2) Over 100 million waiting to be sold if needed. They've missed a few like McGurk, Summerville fee coming in, Miller, Bate, Perkins but they've not included any loan fees received either. I'd say the youth setup is an astonishing success considering the mess Cellino left it in.
As said above, I think our youth system is better than most of us think. It is incredible hard to get to PL standard. Even if these players make it as a pro in the lower leagues they have made it as a professional footballer.
I agree that it was an astonishing success. Actually, it's in spite of Cellino! Even if he never existed, the academy has done a better job than most. Think you've missed one name off the list: 2019/20 Outs Mallik Wilks £1m There's a load of 'undisclosed' transfers too, some of which might have been substantial, plus the loan fees you mentioned, but I have no way of finding out the true numbers. Oh, forgot to mention - we got £6m compo for Charlie Taylor. Makes the numbers much better.
We also have good sell on clauses for the likes of Max Dean, Caprile. We made money on the sell on clauses for Liam Kitching to name another. A number of those players have played key roles for us too. It's more than paid for itself.
TBF, there are other substantial sums required to runs the academy, which should also be taken into consideration. There's the capital & maintenance costs, energy, wages, & so on. Still think it's a success. Take away KP's transfer fee & it doesn't stack up quite so well, all things considered. His story is fairly unique in our recent history.
Do they call you that because you're fat & lazy, & like lying in front of the fire, licking your balls?
And that my friend is the business model for all these academies. It’s a numbers a game. only thing people sometimes forget is the salary cost of these guys... and the opportunity cost of who else might have done better. U23’s still earn decent wedge. Get one on a free, keep him 3 years and sell him for £1m is not a profit, it’s probably break even.
‘tis true. We actually have a significant academy budget.. there are many out there run on an absolute shoestring
Sounds bad on the face of it but, no, everyone goes to work and I find a sunny spot by a window or on someone’s bed and sleep and plan a mouse catch or world peace and crap where and when I want to (I have a friend with a real aversion to cats because “anything arse showing is just wrong”). Now you mention the ball licking, if you’re bored, I’m not pushed for time and, you can try mine. Can’t see the attraction tbh but, if it floats your boat or fills your throat crack on
