Green lights and white smoke may be dominating Leeds United’s takeover and head coach narratives, but while those stories wait, transfers are coming to the fore behind the scenes. Pitches are being made to the players United want to keep and pathways are being forged for those they want out of the club.
The assumption from the outside looking in on the squad is virtually every player to have arrived since 2020 would now be looking to pack their bags. Surely, those players who signed on with a Premier League club have no interest in rolling their sleeves up five hours down the road at Home Park in February?
There will be some surprises, of course, because Leeds cannot carry 20-plus departures in their squad. There is not enough time to get that many ins and outs done before September 1. There are the more obvious candidates, though.
Robin Koch, Jack Harrison, Brenden Aaronson, Marc Roca, Tyler Adams, Rasmus Kristensen, Rodrigo, Crysencio Summerville, Wilfried Gnonto and Diego Llorente have all been linked with new clubs. Koch, Aaronson, Roca, Kristensen and Llorente exits would not generate too much surprise.
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There is certainly an ambition within 49ers Enterprises, however, to retain Adams, Harrison and Gnonto, forlorn as that may be. Release clauses across the roster will take several moves out of United’s hands, of course.
If a suitor triggers that clause there is nothing the Whites can do to come between the player talking to that club and arranging a deal. Timing is the difficult factor in this summer for Leeds.
As we have already seen with the takeover and head coach hunt, timing is everything in this close season. If players are going to go, Leeds to ensure the timelines work as well as possible for them.
There will be a delicate balance for chairman-elect Paraag Marathe to strike. How long does he allow himself to convince players to stick around before it becomes counter-intuitive? Marathe will back himself to set out a convincing case, but he cannot allow forlorn cases to drag into August.
What use is an eight-figure transfer fee if it lands on August 31 with no time for Leeds to reinvest it? As long as he is clear with the players and they are clear with him on their choices, lines in the sand can hopefully be drawn very quickly on who, realistically, is staying or going.
With regards to those players with release clauses, Leeds are well within their rights to knock everything back which fails to tick that box, but does that stance change? Marathe has to consider the possibility that clause is being triggered at 9pm on September 1.
Contingencies have to be in place. Those players with clauses almost certainly triggered before the window closes need to be moved on weeks in advance for reinvestment, or replacements need to be in the building ahead of deadline day to soften those 11th-hour blows.
