It’s like the mid-2000’s all over again, with lots of players leaving en masse, although thankfully not all of them as high profile as they were back then.
Football Insider is reporting that 23-year-old left back Tyler Denton is set to depart having only made three appearances for the club and scoring one goal, on his debut against Luton Town in the EFL Cup in August 2016.
Having found himself well down the pecking order at Elland Road, with Barry Douglas, Tom Pearce and the returning Laurens De Bock all with more Championship experience than him, Leeds have reportedly going to buy out the remainder of Denton’s contract, set to expire next summer and allow him to leave on a free transfer.
If Denton does leave, he will be the fifth defender to leave the club in one form or another in the past week after Pontus Jansson moved to Brentford, Liam Kitching to Forest Green Rovers, Aapo Halme to Barnsley and Lewie Coyle to Fleetwood, although the latter was a loan move.
Whilst I think this is a good move for Denton, who was clearly a long way down the pecking order that it was best for him to move on, I feel Leeds could have handled the situation a little bit better.
Instead of buying out the rest of his contract, the club should have loaned him out for a season. That way there was at least a small chance that he could have impressed to such an extent that the club could get a fee for him.
Whilst he’s only valued at £135k, there was still a chance that a decent loan spell at a League One or even lower end Championship club might have made him an appealing prospect.
Even if the move didn’t work out that way, he could at the very least have left for nothing in the summer, whereas now you’re paying him to leave. With Leeds’ finances still not the greatest, every penny matters in this division.