Opinion: Leeds did exactly what they needed to do this summer for an almost perfect window
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So, how does it feel to go through a summer transfer window as a Premier League team once again?
It’s certainly been a while hasn’t it? And it’s fair to say that we made good use of our first summer window, and the money that being in the Premier League entails and certainly went a bit spending crazy didn’t we? Spending north of £100m on the way.
But just how well did we do overall?
Well that’s what I’m here to do in as simple as way as possible, so let’s get started:
Best bit of business: Personally, I think being able to keep a hold of Jack Harrison was the key one for me. Keeping most of the squad together and then adding pieces here and there was always going to be crucial, we didn’t want to go through a major overhaul like Fulham did when they got promoted, but I think Harrison is arguably the biggest name of the lot that we managed to drag back from Manchester City for a third season.
He’s got off to a very good start with a goal and an assist in his first three games, and has settled into the Premier League incredibly well. Hopefully next summer I’ll be able to write about how signing him permanently was our best bit of business in the 2021 summer window.
Worst bit of business: Overall there aren’t that many signings that make me think ‘nah, that’s a waste of time’, so mine’s going to go for a departure, or lack thereof.
Perhaps because of his off-field issues made him not an attractive commodity, but I’d rather we got rid of Kiko Casilla this summer. You can see the trend is starting to develop to let Illan Meslier take the role of starting goalkeeper, and I just think it would make things easier if we carried on that development and let him take the jersey in peace, whilst also not having to be hamstrung by Casilla’s wage demands, reported at around £32,000 per week.
Should Leeds offload Kiko Casilla?
Overall grade: A) This is a squad that I always thought would do well in the Premier League as it was, it just needed a few tweaks, like adding Rodrigo and Robin Koch to help Patrick Bamford and replace Ben White respectively, and we’ve managed to do that. It was an effective window, let’s just put it that way.
Now obviously there is still the ‘domestic’ window to navigate, so there could still be some movement up and down between us and the EFL, so this is just an ‘as things stand’ assessement.