Sky Sports pundit Terry Gibson has urged Leeds United to bolster their squad with ‘six or seven’ signings with the money raised from the sales of Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha. The Whites could raise around £100million from the departure of their two stars, with Manchester City’s £45million bid for Phillips accepted, while Chelsea have had an offer of £55million accepted for Raphinha.
Losing the club’s two best players in the immediate aftermath of a relegation fight that went to the final day is far from ideal, but those in charge at Elland Road are sympathetic to their players’ desire to compete in Europe and know that they need to make big sales in order to finance a squad rebuild.
Leeds director of football Victor Orta has already brought in £45million worth of talent, with 21-year-old Brenden Aaronson arriving for around £25million, while Rasmus Kristensen and Marc Roca followed for £10million each. And ex-Tottenham man Gibson has told the club to use the money brought in to further strengthen last season’s skeleton squad.
READ MORE: Kalvin Phillips’ Leeds United departure edges closer with Man City medical pencilled in
“The big criticism of Leeds from their supporters last season was that they had such a small squad.” Gibson told the Sky Sports Transfer Talk podcast . “So in order to bolster the squad, they clearly will have to sell some of their main assets. With the money they get for Raphinha, if he goes, and the money they get from Phillips if he goes, I would imagine Leeds will probably be looking at bringing in about half a dozen players as opposed to the two that are leaving.
“The effort they had to put in, particularly when Bielsa was manager, took its toll. I think they do need a much bigger squad than they carried last season and this is one way to do it. It’s going to be a big loss for those two players to leave, but if they were to bring in six or seven new players as well, to strengthen the whole squad and maybe strengthen the starting-eleven, then it's not an impossible task.”
If both do indeed leave West Yorkshire - and that looks likely - then there are three key positions for Orta to secure a deal. Direct replacements for both Phillips and Raphinha are an absolute necessity, while the club still need to secure an original priority in signing an additional striker.
One of Tyler Adams or Mohamed Camara look likely to come into the midfield, while PSV Eindhoven’s Cody Gakpo is Orta’s preferred option to succeed Raphinha,. Upfront, meanwhile, Club Brugge and Belgium star Charles De Ketelaere has been linked with a move to Elland Road.
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