There’s no two ways about it, Leeds United have a battle on their hands this summer. Supporters can hardly move for speculation regarding the futures of Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha and it seems the club could be embroiled in lengthy transfer sagas.
Leeds would obviously be reluctant to allow either player to leave, but the level of interest in the pair is strong and if the money is right they may be forced to sell. Manchester City appear to be the frontrunners when it comes to Phillips’ signature after identifying him as a possible replacement for Fernandinho.
Pep Guardiola is thought to be a big fan of the midfielder, but it will take a significant sum of money in order to prise him away from Elland Road, with reports varying from £45million to £60m. City aren’t the only ones interested either, with PSG apparently showing an interest in Phillips.
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There’s even more talk when it comes to Raphinha, with Barcelona initially thought to be at the top of the pile. However, over the last few days Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea have been strongly linked to the Brazilian, with fees of around £50m being spoken of.
If the apparent asking prices are met, right now it’s hard to envisage the players staying in West Yorkshire this summer and their sales would leave the Whites heading back out into the transfer market with a sizeable war chest at their disposal to make necessary reinforcements. Leeds have already spent around £45m this summer on Brenden Aaronson, Rasmus Kristensen and Marc Roca, but Phillips and Raphinha would certainly need replacing.
However, should that situation arise, the club would do well to learn from the mistakes of other clubs who have been forced to reinvest after receiving a hefty price for a key man. A recent and notable example is Aston Villa, who last season sold Jack Grealish to Man City for around the £100m mark.
The Villans looked to have spent wisely with the purchases of Danny Ings from Southampton and Leon Bailey from Bayer Leverkusen for a combined fee of £55m, while they also bought Emiliano Buendia from Norwich City earlier in the window in anticipation of seeing their best player leave after the European Championships. However, none of their big money signings did enough to fill the hole left by Grealish.
Ings was arguably the most successful signing, bagging seven goals over the course of the year, but he struggled for consistency in large periods, as did Buendia, who made an underwhelming start to life at Villa Park. The Argentina international has been used regularly off the bench under Steven Gerrard, but he’ll certainly be keen to improve next time around.
Bailey had a season to forget for Villa, making just 18 appearances and most of those came off the bench as he struggled with injuries and form. Another example of how not to reinvest is Southampton’s use of the money they received from Liverpool for the sale of Virgil van Dijk in 2018.
The south coast outfit opted to buy striker Guido Carrillo from Monaco for a club record fee of £19m. If you’re struggling to remember Carrillo in the Premier League, that will be because he only made seven league appearances for the Saints before being moved on to Spanish club Leganes for two seasons on loan.
The example Tottenham Hotspur set in 2013 is hardly one to follow either, following the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a world record deal of £85m. They managed to pick up Christian Eriksen for a bargain price of £11.5m from Ajax, but the likes of Roberto Soldado, Etienne Capoue and Vlad Chiriches, all signed in anticipation of Bale’s exit, failed to hit such heights.
Leicester City have been better when it comes to reinvestment, but they have had plenty of practice given they've parted ways with a host of key men in recent years for sizeable sums.
There’s no doubt about it, Leeds and the club’s supporters would rather see Phillips and Raphinha stay at Elland Road. Phillips has been one of United’s best over the last few years, while the Brazilian was by far and away the club’s standout man last season.
In the event of the sale, though, finding the perfect candidate to replace either of them with would be an unenviable task and there are lessons to be learned by how clubs have dealt with cash windfalls in the past.
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