Time to assess the window again.
You may remember that about a month ago, I rounded up how well Leeds did in the transfer market.
Well now that the lower league transfer window, and the majority of international windows have also closed, let’s take a look at who Leeds lost on the final day of the second window. By the way, I have to say majority just in case someone from the Bahamas football leagues for instance come in and decide they want to take Tyler Roberts on loan for a couple of months.
Conor Shaughnessy – season-long loan to Mansfield Town: This one I found to be a little bit puzzling. Shaughnessy has already made a few appearances for the first team in previous seasons and clearly showed enough promise to be given a four-year deal back in 2017. That’s why I find it weird for him to be sent out on loan, surely if he was good enough to be in the first team a few years ago, he’d be better off acting as cover here (especially given the lack of centre-backs the club now has) and getting a few games for the U23s. At least he would have been in house rather than with someone else.
Vurnon Anita – released by mutual consent: As I said yesterday, with the backing up of some Leeds fans, the main thing that stunned me was that he was still at the club. So the fact that we released him on Monday came as a bit of a shock. Although doesn’t it say something about his abilities that we couldn’t find anyone to take him off our books even for a season-long loan and where we pay the majority of the wages
Laurens De Bock – season-long loan to Sunderland: I’ve got no problem with De Bock leaving the club. Whilst I have said before that I thought he could have served some purpose in case of an injury crisis, the fact that he wanted out of the club meant that it was probably best that he left. My only concern, and again this is something I’ve raised before, is that I’m concerned the club aren’t going to end up making any money off of this deal when everything is said and done. Given how perilous the club are in terms of finances, it could be a few hundred thousand pounds that we may end up needing further down the road.
Overall, I think the club could have done a lot better when it came to deadline day, even if it would have meant not getting everything we wanted. What about you? Did you think we made the right choices? Or do you think the club messed up along the way?