Former Leeds United striker and now BBC pundit Noel Whelan has already made his thoughts clear on who he felt the club should turn to in order to ease defensive worries in the 2019/20 campaign and he’d made little secret that we should’ve made a move for Aston Villa free agent Tommy Elphick.
It seems the hugely experienced 31-year-old wasn’t on Victor Orta or manager Marcelo Bielsa’s shopping list and he has now subsequently moved on to relegated side Huddersfield Town as they rejoin the second tier for the coming year.
Speaking to Football Insider recently to reflect on that transfer move, Whelan was less than impressed that we hadn’t made more of an effort (or even any effort at all) to capture the player and he wasn’t very complimentary on the back of that.
“They’ve made the signing of Elphick already from Aston Villa. I was hoping Leeds United would go in for him but they were a little bit slow off the mark. I thought he would have been a great signing. He did very well in the Championship, he’s a very good centre half. Aston Villa thought they didn’t need him. What Huddersfield have realised is he’s a good, English centre half, knows his job and is perfect for that Championship league. Really aggressive, very dominating with centre forwards and I’m very surprised Leeds United didn’t even look at or consider signing him because we need that strength of depth in those positions and we need that experience. I felt like we missed out on a trick on that one, again.”
Did we miss a trick though, or did Bielsa simply have a differing opinion? I can see the sense in Elphick given his experience at this level, but who am I to second guess Bielsa?
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