Helder Costa Wolves (£16m) Illan Meslier Lorient (£5m) Jack Harrison Manchester City (Loan) Joe Gelhardt Wigan (£1m) Cody Drameh Fulham (£800,000) Charlie Allen Linfield (undisclosed) Sam Greenwood Arsenal (undisclosed) Rodrigo Valencia (£26m) Robin Koch Freiburg (£13m) Crysencio Summerville Feyenoord (£1.3m) Diego Llorente Real Sociedad (£18m) Raphinha Rennes (£17m) I Make that £99.8m as I included the Prices originally quoted for the fees undisclosed. I didnt include a loan fee for Harrison. First team transfers comes to £95m if you includeCosta and Meslier or £74m without. This window we have added 4 first team players at a cost of £74m and I suspect we will be adding another substantial fee for a creative midfielder which would be in line with the available budget Radz and Kinnear mentioned in separate interviews. My own view is that each of the 4 players brought in for the first team are all fantastic Additions to the squad and I dont see anyone who will let us down and do a Fulham or Villa from last season and the season before. We spent on quality not quantity, in my view and believe Orta is as good as the budget hes given. It seems he has worked closely with Bielsa and only Koch and Raphenha were suspected as being on Leeds radar and Rodrigo and Llorente were both under the radar to us and surprises, so well done Leeds
Nobody left the club except for loan players and only Bogusz went out on loan yesterday. We brought in 4 big names and loaned out 4 so his squad numbers stay the same but upgraded players released Kamil Miazek Will Huffer Josh Shergill Loaned out Bryce Hosannah to Bradford Alfie McCalmont to Oldam Jordan Stevens to Swindon Matt Bogusz to UD Logonres Ryan Edmondson to Aberdeen
Very interesting. We’ll see how they do of course, but your conclusion seems right to me. And I was one who wondered if Orta could do the job if the stakes were raised. But in case people are only reading the thread title, I’d like to clarify that I am not Victor.
Probably what most of us forget is that scouting players is the easy part. Where it gets difficult is actually making the deal happen with clubs all across Europe looking to milk the PL for their TV cash. There is then the problem of persuading players, their agents, family etc that coming to Leeds is the right move for their careers, especially with us being a newly promoted side. After watching various interviews with Victor Orta over the last few years there's no doubt his experience dealing with clubs across the world and the relationships he's developed have been invaluable to us. It's also likely we had this one transfer window as an opportunity to sign quality international players, the reason being Marcelo Bielsa and his reputation as a world class coach. Next season he may be gone and the lure of signing for a club in the north if England may not have been so great. Fortunately we now have the opportunity to build on this fantastic transfer window and even if Marcelo does leave we'll have a higher quality squad to attract a better class of coach in the future. Final point, when you look at our recruitment compared to the other newly promoted clubs it's different class. When you also consider both Fulham and WBA have been in the PL far more recently than us and therefore should have a greater working knowledge of the requirements plus the processes involved it's even more remarkable. Well done Victor, an amazing job from you and your team
Jammy I think 3 main points jump out from reading this reply not a criticism of your reply by the way but what I took away from this Summers recruitment campaign which was mentioned by the first 3 arrivals and Orta. Koch said he was aware of Leeds wanting him months ago and was gradually learning about the club from certain people. When Leeds made an official approach he was given a DVD presentation with video clips, Bielsa tactics an the best was was Ben White with Kochs head superimposed on some clips. Then Koch being replaced by Ben White in some German games and then both clips overlayed to show the movement and skills of both players and how similar they were. That takes some creativity alone, but also shows the detail that Bielsa went into with Orta. the second point was Rodrigo got loads of stuff like Koch as well as powerpoint presentations and much was on the way Rodrigo moved and then showed why Bielsa thinks Rodrigo was an ideal purchase for Bielsaball. Even had a Spanish employee put all this together including a video message from Bielsa. The final point is that the club are now out there as being a professionally run outfit with a top Director of Football, a top analytics department, a great owner with a plan for the future which was also passed onto the first 3 signings. Yes everyone knows the historical Leeds but I suspect within the game now we are seen as a credible place to be. There is a succession management plan too. Not sure how much of this Raphinha got as it seemed to happen in 24 hours but the way Orta works wouldn't surprise me if he has been in touch plenty before yesterday?
Cheers mate just edited the post and now its more symmetrical as 5 loaned out and 5 replacements for the U23s brought in
We should probably see another couple of 23s going out on loan before the 16th with Gotts and Davies mentioned. Lots of stories about Douglas being sold to Watford or Blackburn as both clubs want him. Is there a reason for keeping Alioski and Roberts now? Alioski is mad but the dressing room seem to love him? Many think Roberts will come good and hes only 21? Well Cuisance is only 20 and plays Champions League football. So far Tyler has looked out of his depth and Im afraid so does Alioski
I hope that’s legal, sending vids to players who are attached to other clubs, and not classed as ‘tapping up’.
One other thing to adds that the 49ers Director who said last week that the long term plan is to be one of the top football clubs in Europe. This isnt a flash in the pan or a one season wonder. The club will be fully supported whenever they require it. This has also been passed along to the new recruits
It's not an exact science though is it Doc ? Replace Bielsa with Pete Reid and watch the whole thing fall apart and before anyone says circumstances were different then (which they were), we still had enough quality in that squad not to be relegated. Look at Sheff Utd & Burnley this year, suddenly they are up against it...in football things change so fast, confidence is such a fragile thing with footballers meaning a few negative results can transform a relatively successful club into relegation candidates in the blink of an eye.
Am I happy with our transfer business? In principle I'm happy that we've committed funds to support Bielsa and bring in signings who look good additions on paper. I think it's fair to say we mean business, and that's great. How great are the signings? Well we'll have to look back at the end of the season and take a view. Certainly Koch always looked a steal for the money, and was the one i was most enthused about. Yes I got excited about Koch! Rodrigo seemed a lot of money for his age, but i could see that even though he'll have no real re-sale value, it's worth it if he delivers the goods. First signs are he will. Llorente, we'll have to wait and see, on paper looks good value. Raphinha i have no real opinion on either way, either from record or eye-test. Has Orta got deals over the line for players that bielsa has approved. Yes he has. Have some of the players we've been linked with 'excited' me more that the ones we've actually got in? If i'm honest yes, and who knows whether what we got were first/second/third/last choice. But that's the nature of the business. Geldhardt and greenwood in particular (and Allan on paper) looked like smart buys for the future. Bottom line is we needed signings in a short transfer window. We got them. So happy to say well done Victor, with the 10 game in caveat!
Agreed However if we have a managers list sitting in Radz drawer at ER, a list compiled by Bielsa in conjunction with Orta. A blueprint for TA and the academy with a coaching system drawn up by Bielsa which the potential next manager will love and tweak to suit himself, then I dont see a Peter Ried anywhere near the club ever again I say ever because 49ers will inject cash as and when, and by doing so without complaint means they increase their ownership % in the club, because Ultimatley thats the long term plan of the 49ers and QSI is now dead allow me to live in this ideal life Jamster please
Like everyone else, I'm hoping Bielsa remains beyond this season. I take a lot of heart from the first question he asked Pep after the match. "Was this match like playing in Europe?", or words to that effect. Clearly, he's not thinking of relegation battles - he's thinking Europe already. And he'll want to be at the helm for that. I'm hoping that once we qualify for Europe, he'll want to stay until we win the Champions League. Bit optimistic? Yup, but much better than fearing that we may not stay up, which I think is the common fear suffered by fans of newly promoted clubs.
Bielsa asked Pep " What was your opinion of the game" to which Pep replied " I cannot analyse the game after one second, I am not able to process it". Chesh heard it same as you WJ and I presumed I had misheard, as with Pep's accent I guess him saying Europe could sound like me hearing opinion.. However now I think about it, why would Bielsa ask about Europe, he's managed teams that have played in the competitions, so would be a strange question to ask, especially for someone who watches as much football as he does. The first two sites I found that mention what Bielsa said to Pep straight after the game, may not be the most reliable, links and quote below, Of course if you are referring to a different incident, then I apologise to everyone who just read my ramblibgs Edit : just found Yorkshire Post article with same quote as below https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co...s-united-and-manchester-city-thriller-2992180 https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/03/pep-...lsa-said-after-man-citys-draw-leeds-13367522/ https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/may...-to-answer-bielsas-/aj32mj0gz26a1ks7t1akq6vwp
As ever, you're spot on. Starts around 2:30 ..... I wonder where Chesh & I got that from. Can't remember, but obviously wrong. LOL.
