As Wednesday’s friendly with Manchester United showed, Leeds United are desperately short at the back.
Selling Pontus Jansson was a mistake, I said that at the time, however, it now appears to as if the decision is compounding itself even further, especially seeing as Marcelo Bielsa didn’t have anyone lined up to replace him straight away. Now Leeds are left with Gaetano Beradi and Liam Cooper, neither of whom fill the fan base with much hope.
There’s still just over three weeks left in the transfer window, so there’s plenty of time for Bielsa to look at targets, but specifically those at center-back. Leeds have two options, they can either reinvest the money that they received from the Jansson deal fully. Or they can go back into the loan market as they have done for Jack Harrison and Ben White (I’m not counting Helder Costa because for all intents and purposes that’s a permanent deal).
I believe that the best way for Leeds to go is to start off looking at the loan market, and then using the funds in January if they absolutely feel they have to. So with the loan market in mind, who do they go and get?
For me there’s only one option. Not just because he can offer something for Leeds, but because the deal should be able to be negotiated pretty simply. Leeds need to keep up the good relationship that the club has after the whole Jack Clarke saga, and sign Cameron Carter-Vickers from Tottenham.
Carter-Vickers spent the last two years on loan in the Championship so you wouldn’t have to worry about him adjusting to this level. And as he showed at Sheffield United, he’s useful in both boxes as he got a goal and two assists during his time at Bramall Lane. Not only that, but his near exemplary record of only seven yellow cards across the two seasons shows that he’s disciplined and you won’t have to worry about him missing games through suspension.
However, if they do decide to buy him now, he is only valued at £1.35m, so would certainly represent a bargain in today’s market, especially compared to the Jansson fee, although there’s nothing wrong with trying before you buy, so go with the safe option of a loan for now.
We can praise Bielsa all we want for how well he’s done in the transfer market when looking at attacking talent like Helder Costa, Jack Harrison and Liam McCarron, but if he doesn’t follow that up with signing quality across the rest of the side, then Leeds could find themselves once again missing out on promotion.