OK, now is the time to start panicking.
In the words of Beren Cross of LeedsLive, United are ‘all but done’ in the transfer market. Now whilst he later went on to clarify that ‘all but done is not the same as all done’, this should be enough to get Leeds fans waking up in cold sweats. That indicates that we are more than likely down to maybe one or two signings that Leeds have left to make in the summer window.
This news did not go down well with the supporters, who made their feelings clear.
Cross later went on to say that the club is still keeping Ryan Kent on their radar, and that if Liverpool are insisting on selling the 22-year-old, that they will be out of the running, but may still end up going after him again if he is available on loan. I’ve said before that Kent would be a bit of a luxury item because of the lack of options elsewhere in the squad.
If this is the last remaining target for Leeds to get over the line, then overall I think you can mark the summer down as a failure overall. If you look at the makeup of the squad as it stands, you can see there are some glaring holes and imbalances, but let’s look at the main area that needs addressing, and that’s defence.
Whilst Leeds fans have spent the majority of the summer demanding that the club buy a centre-back, it doesn’t look as if that is going to be the main target for Marcelo Bielsa going forward. The consensus seems to be that Ben White will be playing centre-back this season, so if something happens to (presumed starter) Luke Ayling, does Ben White then slip over to cover (which brings us back to the lack of centre back issue), or will Bielsa be bringing someone up from the academy to cover for him?
That’s why it’s so frustrating for Leeds to have left their business so late. As I said a few weeks ago, the sooner you get your business done the better, if the squad was seen as complete by now, but with two or three more signings, then fans could be feeling happier, rather than wondering what’s going to happen in the last couple of days of the window.
If there is to be only one more signing made, then it is going to have to be something to calm fans nerves, otherwise it will be all on Bielsa to work his supposed magic to get the team promoted, because God knows it won’t be the players alone that do it.