Jesse Marsch and Victor Orta conducted a meeting last week to plan what the upcoming summer transfer window could look like for Leeds United. Of course, the level of player they target will depend heavily on the division they are playing their football in next season, although survival is within touching distance.
Rather than discussing specific player names, Marsch revealed he and Orta spoke to the scouting department about the specific attributes needed across different positions to fit into his style. Marsch plays a completely contrasting style to his predecessor Marcelo Bielsa in and out of possession, and so will need to build a squad that suits him.
At previous clubs RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig, a fairly clear pattern emerges on the types of players he targets in transfer windows. So with that in mind, here is a look at his three summers at those clubs, and what it could tell us about Leeds’ transfer policy in the coming months.
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Salzburg – 2019
Ever since the Red Bull franchise came into football, it has been pretty clear that their footballing model is based on signing and developing young players. And given that Leeds probably have one of the lower budgets in the Premier League, Orta has already discussed how that it is a route Leeds are likely to follow.
Salzburg’s made three signings for the first team in the summer of 2019, acquiring Noah Okafor from FC Basel, Maximilian Wober from Sevilla and Rasmus Kristensen from Ajax – all of whom were under the age of 22. The Austrian Champions paid decent money for those three players, but it has proved to be value for money as they are all now regular first team players.
Salzburg made a further nine signings that summer, all of whom were very young, but four of those are now regular first team players. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Leeds recruit heavily for their U23s again.
Salzburg – 2020
Salzburg spent considerably less in the summer of 2020, with Brenden Aaronson from Philadelphia Union and Oumar Solet from Lyon their only real permanent first team signings. At the time, both were aged just 20 but are now key first team players.
Obviously, Aaronson is very well known to Leeds fans after the club’s January pursuit and a summer move to the Whites seems likely for him. Brighton left back Bernardo also arrived on loan, but on top of that it was another window of acquiring youngsters for cheap that have the potential to progress into the first team in years to come.
Of the 14 youngsters they brought in, some have enjoyed more success than others, but only one or two need to work out in order to make a profit – which is the ultimately the main goal behind their model.
Leipzig – 2021
At Leipzig the model is very much the same as at his previous club, though given that he lost a lot of key players in the summer, his budget for incomings was far larger than at Salzburg. Of course, the goal is still to sign players young enough to be capable of developing into a profit later down the line, however they did acquire both Andre Silva, Angelino and Benjamin Henrichs as ready made first teamers already in their mid-20s.
But at Leipzig there is more scope for a mixture in their transfer philosophy and young players such as Ilaix Moriba, Brian Brobbey and Mohamed Simakan all came in, although so far only the latter has made any sort of impact, with the other two out on loan.
What does this tell us?
Using the three summer windows, it seems apparent that Leeds are likely to target promising youngsters that will be ready for first team action immediately Leeds probably would consider themselves to have an ageing squad, with several of its core including Liam Cooper, Stuart Dallas, Luke Ayling, Mateusz Klich and Rodrigo Moreno all 30 or above, meaning a little refresh is needed.
Among the names to have already been linked with the club this summer are Aaronson, Sergino Dest and James Garner, which seems to be a pretty telling explainer of the profile Leeds will be targeting.
