A summer like this has been coming for Leeds United. After consecutive years under Marcelo Bielsa, where changes were at a premium and the football on the pitch was successful, the Whites had no real need for drastic overhauls in transfer windows.
With Bielsa gone and relegation barely kept at bay, this was the obvious time for Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha to spread their wings with moves to clubs offering Champions League football. Each had two years left on their contracts with no prospect of new terms being signed and so Leeds were left striving for the best price they could achieve.
With £100m, give or take, raked in from their sales the screw was turned on Victor Orta and the recruitment department. If Andrea Radrizzani was to get the Leicester City model he wanted, the next phase required successful reinvestment of the big-ticket sales.
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At the time of writing, Leeds have around five weeks of the transfer window still to navigate with seven new faces through the door as the new campaign creeps into view. How happy are fans with the window, though?
Before a ball is kicked, LeedsLive are asking supporters to let us know on a scale of zero to 100 just how happy they are with eight key areas of the club including, of course, transfer business. It’s all a part of 'The Big Leeds United Forum', a new series that asks the big questions. You answer and we debate all of the goings on at LS11.
I will get to my own score out of 100 shortly, but at the outset, the one unavoidable theme linking all of these new faces is their total absence of any experience in the Premier League. By the end of August, once we have seen most of them play, they may have quickly proven themselves, but before that first whistle goes we are in the dark as to whether they will sink or swim.
Brenden Aaronson has been the biggest investment thus far. The American arrived for a fee not far from the club’s transfer record and with that comes pressure and expectation.
As with Rasmus Kristensen and Tyler Adams, there is history of playing in Jesse Marsch’s system which has to bode well for all three of them. If the Premier League proves a shock, at least the tactics won’t.
That trio are full internationals with Champions League experience. Their CVs would suggest they are ready for that leap into the English top flight.
Adams was not cheap at around £20m either. The Americans have cost more money and will be expected to perform, while Kristensen came in at around £10m and his move seems to tick every box.
Marc Roca, not quite a full international or a regular with his previous side, also arrived for around £10m, which will take the pressure off his adaptation period. We are left hoping he recaptures the form which convinced European giants Bayern Munich to take a punt on him in the first place.
A hamstring injury has already put a dampener on Luis Sinisterra’s move, but anticipation around Raphinha’s replacement is very high. This Colombian international exploded in Eredivisie and the Europa Conference League with Feyenoord, but it’s one season off the back of a serious knee injury, which wrote off 2020.
My mark is a strong 70 out of 100 for happiness on the window. A striker and a left-back would take it up towards 90, but the quantity of the bodies added to what was a small squad is heartening, as well as the money spent on them, plus their ages and room for development with resale value.
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