Good Morning. It's Wednesday 2nd February, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Bielsa snubbed Harry Winks, Aaron Ramsey and van de Beek Veteran Soccer journalist David Anderson has revealed that Marcelo Bielsa snubbed the opportunity to sign Harry Winks, Aaron Ramsey and van de Beek during last month's transfer window. Writing in the Mirror, Anderson explains that Bielsa's insistence that the squad is good enough to stay up, was the underlining factor why they didn't bring new talent in. He also applauds Leeds for not paying over the odds for Aaronson:- "They (Leeds) were offered the chance to sign Harry Winks, Aaron Ramsey and van de Beek, but declined because the players and the deals were not right for them. Leeds chose to be hard to please in January because the consistent message from Bielsa is that he believes his squad is good enough to stay up." "Bielsa dislikes signing players in January because he feels any new acquisition needs a proper pre-season with him to adapt to his exacting physical standards." "They were right to stop the bidding for Aaronson at £20million. It was obvious Red Bull Salzburg were not going to sell the US international in January and Leeds risked overpaying for the attacking midfielder by offering more. They are not Newcastle and have to operate within a budget." please log in to view this image Leeds should have at least got the Aaronson deal done Phil Hay believes Leeds should have secured Brendan Aaronson's services during the January transfer window, even if it meant waiting until the Summer before he arrives at Elland Road. Messrs Orta and Bielsa believe the 21yo has the perfect crudentials to fill the vacant No 10 void. Unfortunately, they could not convince RB Salzburg to part with their prized asset midway through the season. Aaronson himself, was receptive to the idea about joining Leeds, but didn't want to rock the boat, and after two failed bids, Leeds gave up. We are now hearing, other European clubs including Salzburg's sister club RB Leipzig and Italian giants AC Milan have joined the race. According to Hay, Leeds could have made the most of a bad situation by either securing the American International services, and loaning him back to Salzburg, or having a gentleman's agreement in the Summer:- "There would have been a premium in January definitely and I'm also not sure what the reaction would have been to Leeds making a £20m-£30m signing and then loaning him out. Seems counter-intuitive, at least get the deal done." "Aaronson was very receptive about the idea of moving to Leeds. He just wasn't prepared to rock the boat at Salzburg by insisting on moving now (because Salzburg were extremely resistant to selling him). On the flip side, there's no gentleman's agreement with Salzburg - but the expectation is that they'll be far more open to selling him in the summer window." please log in to view this image Victor Orta - Hero or Villain Not many people divide opinion as much as Leeds Director of Football Victor Orta. The flamboyant (and sometimes a little crazy) Spaniard was bought to Elland Road at the end of May 2017, just days after Andrea Radrizzani took charge. Orta played a massive role in bringing Marcelo Bielsa to West Yorkshire, and together they have been responsible for the talent coming in and out of the club. One of the main aims of the club is to bring in, nurture and develop the young talent. Today, we look at the youngsters Orta has bought into the club, and ask whether Victor Orta is worth his weight in Gold, or whether they need an upgrade? U23 signings 2018 Pascal Struijk* - signed from AFC Ajax Leif Davis* - signed from Morecambe Mateusz Bogusz - signed from Ruch Chorzow 2019 Stuart McKinstry* - signed from Motherwell Liam McCarron* - signed from Carlisle United Illan Meslier* - signed from Lorient 2020 Elia Caprile - signed from Chievo Verona Ian Poveda - signed from Manchester City Joe Gelhardt - signed from Wigan Athletic Charlie Allen - signed from Linfield Cody Drameh - signed from Fulham Dani van den Heuvel - signed from AFC Ajax Sam Greenwood - signed from Arsenal Crysencio Summerville - signed from Feyenoord 2021 Amari Miller - signed from Birmingham City Leo Hjelde - signed from Celtic Lewis Bate - signed from Chelsea Sean McGurk - signed from Wigan Athletic 2022 Mateo Joseph Fernandez - signed from Espanyol please log in to view this image
Morning all My gripe about January and the transfer window is we wouldn’t have waited until January 1st to identify him. You approach the club and they say yes or no or what asking price. You then decide if you can operate in that price bracket and if so Jan 1st arrives and you slap the offer in. They said no on day one, they don’t need the money, they wanted to wait until after the CL game, a win in prize money alone is £12m not to mention TV and gate receipts. Just very frustrating and although I trust Bielsa I’m shocked he turned down at least two of those loan options to get us through
From that list. Meslier and Struijk have made it as first team squad regulars. Gelhardt, Hjelde,Bate, Summerville are on the fringes. There's a high hope for Miller. 1 or 2 others are maybe's Too early to say for Fernandez 4 or 5 I don't expect to see in the squad at all. So all in all not a bad return, if you look at any PL squad, not many blood any more youngsters than we do, some bring hardly any through at all. It's obviously a road we need to go down, as we don't have the finances to sign £25m plus players here and there at will.
Good morrow squires and squiresses. On the injury frint Kalvin says he is looking at March. Now i know there are 31 days in that month so could be anyone of those. Bamford has a history of being injured and then taking ages to come back. Can we manage without two of our best players?. Been mulling over the second west ham game and Harrisons performance. He was up against probably their worst player and mullered him. Next game newcastle defended better but still we got behind them. We know tyler is not a goal scorer but james did no better. Rodrigo is the reason for me we lost that game. Where was he for the cutbacks in the box. You would expect more from a full Spanish international. Bielsa picked that lineup and by the time joffy came on it was game over. He or any other striker would have been waiting to pounce in the first half. Bielsa has done some great work but is too stubborn to change. We will now get sucked into a relegation battle. Looking at the players other teams have brought in makes our squad weaker. Why did we not loan a midfielder it is ridiculous. The one area we are desperate to recruit and we failed. I would have been happy with just one loanee but no mr stubborn says we are ok. Well are we? Are we feck.
Where is the evidence Bielsa turned any players down ? It's now become fact because the Daily Mirror wouldn't possibly get it wrong so it must be true.
West Ham United goalkeeper Darren Randolph was allegedly stopped from joining Premier League rivals Leeds United in the January transfer window. Nantes block Leeds bid for their winger Moses Simon: “Yes, it is true. My agent told me about some offers. Leeds United came calling with strong offer and (it was my) intention of sealing the deal immediately,” says the 26-year-old.
I think the motto is we only loan players with a buy on clause. Ramsey is on wages we can't match. yes fair enough we could of payed a percentage of the loan wage but signing him in the future on a similar contract would be hit straight out the ground he would have to take a hefty drop. Plus he's had a major muscle injuries this season and Leeds is not a good place to come with this type of injury do we really need another cripple? we don't want more. Scum and Spuds are playing Van De Beek and Winks clever wherever they went they getting game time with only a loan. possibly improving them and putting him in the shop window for the summer and improving there price tag or if they do really well will go back to their parent clubs and try again. As on young guns It's a lottery even if you unearth a select few from a big bunch its still a success to me. Struijk and Gelhardt alone have already made a massive profit for the club if they were to be sold. A few more on that list will go the same way for sure. As they say not everyone makes it but if you grab a bunch of talent 1 or 2 are likely to come through which we have shown. We just have to get on with it now. trust Bielsa's judgement. I'm a firm believer in his judgement if we have the majority of the team fit we stay up comfortably. My worry is the team is littered with brittle bone syndrome and that fit squad is still not happening we are past halfway in the season. We need those bodies back and need to start playing players in their best positions. This is the Premier League one of the best leagues in the world you can't afford to fill gaps the quality and opposition is to good. This aint the championship where you can get away with it.
Just reading Villa have prepared for us by having a behind closed door friendly. Bielsa has ordered the players in for three murder ball sessions
Good for them it's the fact they have now got Coutinho that worries me more. I would really have liked him to join us, little chance I know, but just the sort of player I think we need.
Good to see 'Udders beat Derby tonight. I wish Reading and Peterborough would win a few games though.
I think I've got to the bottom of all of these injuries we've been having, & I think it's all down to Bielsa. He is noted for having his players maintain a very low body fat level, & this is the root cause of the problem, I fear. If the players were allowed to get a bit fatter, then they'd have a protective layer over all these injured bits. I think that's why I never get sports injuries - I have such a good covering of fat that I've never had any sports injuries. That & the fact that I don't do sports.
