Lessons need to be learned at Leeds United right from the very top after a chastening nine months in the Premier League. The early signs in this transfer window would suggest they are making amends and looking to prevent the same glaring issues which dogged 2021/22.
The speed of Victor Orta’s work in the transfer market is one thing. Whether you are excited by the personnel being recruited or not, the director of football cannot be knocked for giving his new charges as much time as possible to acclimatise before the real work restarts.
There is no harm in being seen to react quickly to a poor season either. Again, time will tell how well these new players perform, but Orta, Jesse Marsch, Angus Kinnear and co are at least working proactively to swiftly put 21/22 behind them.
READ MORE: Sam Greenwood's private Leeds United talks with Jesse Marsch and his key pre-season message
While recruitment chiefs frequently talk up the value of getting their business done early in the window, Orta being one, actually bringing those deals to completion before mid-June is another matter entirely. Amari Miller, for example, was last summer’s first addition and he signed on June 28.
Speed aside, these early deals, which should include Bayern Munich’s Marc Roca by the end of the week, begin to bulk out a squad which was in no way ready for the injuries which crippled it. Nobody could have foreseen the amount of time players spent in the Thorp Arch medical room, but Marcelo Bielsa’s penchant for lean squads left Leeds badly lacking when Rob Price was at his busiest.
Brenden Aaronson, Rasmus Kristensen and Roca are not replacements for outgoing faces in this squad, they are additions. Should the likes of Raphinha or Kalvin Phillips move on from Elland Road this summer, they will be replaced by new faces.
Some may have felt Aaronson’s signature was negotiated to cover the possible exit of an attacker like Raphinha or Rodrigo, while the similarities between Roca and Phillips are inescapable. This is not the case, however, and Leeds are set on fleshing out this squad with quality to ensure they will not be ravaged in the same way by an injury crisis.
The gulf in quality between what Leeds had on their bench and what their opponents had on their bench last term was all too apparent too frequently. Marsch and Orta know they need to see five, six or seven players in reserve who are good enough to start games, good enough to change games.
United’s hierarchy cannot control who gets injured or when. They can control how many bodies they have in the building and adding to, rather than replacing, their existing talent is the first step.
