slow weekend regarding LUFC news, so lets start with Person talking about getting some commerical deals over the line. LEEDS UNITED executive director Adam Pearson is confident that the club will be able to announce more significant commercial deals in the near future following the arrival of Kappa as the club’s kit provider for the next five years. The deal with the Italian sportswear giant was announced last Tuesday afternoon and Pearson is now working hard behind the scenes to secure more key partnerships with businesses wanting to come on board with Leeds United. On the likelihood of further sizeable commercial deals transpiring, Pearson added: “We have a whole host of them. Obviously, Kappa is our key partner and with the club sponsor, they are the new main partners we have to get right for the next five years. “But we are still actively trying to put a partnership programme together and have six to eight key sponsors in different sectors to hang off the two main sponsors. “There are some interesting deals coming to the table, for sure. “We have got a lot to do on the commercial side and a lot of partnerships to put in place. But to be fair, they are starting to appear on the table. We have just got to make them big enough to be acceptable to the owner.” Specifically on the Kappa deal, he continued: “It is about the right length of time for us. “If you can have the shirt sponsor in place for a long time, it underpins your commercial activity and, hopefully, your partnership deals in other sectors can be a bit shorter to maximise the revenues. “The owner’s relationship in Italy has been beneficial as has Kappa’s enthusiasm to get back in the UK market. It’s quite an opportune match.” Meanwhile, reports in the north-east have suggested that Sunderland will target a move for Leeds United defender Sam Byram if they lose out to West Ham in their quest to sign Arsenal full-back carl Jenkinson on loan. The Wearsiders have agreed a £2.5m deal with the Gunners to take Jenkinson on loan for next season, with the 23-year-old to consider his future after ending his England commitments at the European Under-21 Championships in the Czech Republic. Jenkinson spent last season on loan at Upton Park and the Hammers are keen on re-signing the player, according to co-chairman David Gold. He commented: “We know we need a right-back and will work tirelessly to bring in Carl. “If that does not work out, we have other irons in the fire. “We said to Slaven (Bilic) ‘get your priority list and let’s see what we can do’.” If the Hammers do pip Sunderland for Jenkinson’s services, the north-east outfit are likely to set their sights on Byram, who has been on their radar for the last year. A £5m fee has been mooted for Byram, with Sunderland in the market for at least one new full-back, with the departure of out-of-contract Anthony Reveillere leaving Billy Jones and Patrick van Aanholt as the two specialists in that department. United rejected a £4.5m bid for Byram, who has a year left on his Elland Road deal last August from Southampton. Several other sides are keeping tabs on Byram. Leeds players return to pre-season training a week today when the club’s new head coach, Uwe Rosler, will meet his charges for the first time at Thorp Arch. Anyone who can pull of major commerical deals whilst working with Cellino must be regarded as some sort of miracle worker surely? And how much would it take for you to let Byram go?
Reports in Italy today suggest that Leeds United have missed out on a player most fans probably didn't realise they were even linked with. The player in question is Italian defender Luca Rossettini. The right-back, who can also play centre-back, is all set to join Bologna for a fee in the region of €3.5 million (£2.5 million), who were recently promoted to Serie A from current club Cagliari - as reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport. Leeds were also said to be keen, according to a report in Calcio News 24, in bringing the player from Massimo Cellino's former team to his current club. Rossettini, who played 33 games last season and earned a first call-up to the Italian national team, would have been a great signing so if Leeds genuinely were keen on the player it will certainly prove an opportunity missed. Although, they were never likely to pay that sort of money for the player.
Morning Bucks, morning all... With regards to a plain white Leeds shirt, now is the time to buy one before it gets spoilt with a large unsightly sponsor emblazoned over the front. Yes financially it would be good to have one but not before I have managed to get a new shirt first With a normal owner £6m would be good for Byram but we can't say we noticed the large amount of money we received for Ross, you just have to look at loan players like Cani to confirm Cellino was pretty much clueless last season, why should he spend it better this time around? I see a few good names that we are linked with, then a few alarming ones too, until the dust settles and we get a few new faces in I guess we are going to be linked with pretty much anyone. The tearing up of the Steve Head contract because he wanted to take his holiday is now laughable considering we haven't even secured the Sol Bamba signing yet, a player we had on loan at the club. I am pretty amazed we managed to get Erwin, not because I rate him, just the speed in which we moved for a change.
Agree about the shirt and think it will outsell any of our previous shirts since the champions league days. As for Byram, its the same old scenerio, if we can trust Cellino to pump the money back into the squad 6 million would be a great deal. I dont trust him to do so, right backs are one of the easier positions to fill (and I see Byram as a RB) and a decent RB wont get out of this league.
I had my Fathers Day lunch at Elland Road yesterday and did the stadium tour. I was taken round by ex player John McClelland and regarding transfers he said 'take no notice of what you read and the rumours as its all bullshit until a player actually signs on the dotted line' Transfers are not as straight forward as some seem to think. Ristac...you thinking if we had taken on Steve Head we would have players signing left,right and centre is just as laughable.
agree with Mclelland Don't believe it until its on the official site/official press release Elland take note
I didn't say that did I? Cellino tore the contract up as he said speed in securing players was of importance, he wasn't willing to wait for Head to return from his holiday. At the time he tore it up (which was a Wednesday I believe) I laughed and questioned why Cellino could not wait another 3 days, some agreed while others said he shouldn't have been away on holiday. I am saying we could have waited for Steve Head, it would not have mattered in the slightest as it was obvious we were not going to be rampant in the transfer market no matter who we had in place. If Head was first choice and Pearsons choice we should have waited to get him, nothing to do with he would have brought more players in by now because it was obvious we wouldn't have.
linked right until it involved a fee. when it was a six figure fee i can see e mails getting deleted and the fabled head of recruitment getting a warning letter!
none relating to the only thing that matters. i am not interested in cellinos return on investment. Has bamba signed?
Who says he was first choice? And do you really believe the only reason he didn't get the job cos he was going on holiday. Utter bollox methinks.
He was offered a contract, it was taken to Cellino to sign off, Cellino said where is Mr Head, Pearson said on holiday so Cellino tore up the contract, this according to Cellino himself so yes it is a safe bet he was first choice, do I believe this was the only reason - 100%. If you can find any evidence or interview stating otherwise please do. The point is you said it was laughable that I thought we would have more players signed on the dotted line if we had Steve Head as head of recruitment - I didn't say that, Josh could see that I hadn't, I explained to you it wasn't that way so an apology that you had got it wrong would have sufficed
Its been stated on twitter by an apparently reliable source we are signing 4 players in the next 9 days !!! and one of the signings is supposed to be fantastic ahem !!!
Simon O'Rourke @simon_orourke 3h3 hours ago Was told this morning that #LUFC are expecting to sign 4 players in the next 9 days, including one "fantastic" signing. Here's hoping! Apparently this guy has been right about a few things but yeh its all bollocks until they appear in a nice new Kappa shirt !!
