With Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani recently revealing that potential investment talks at the club had now seen him provisionally whittle down the numbers to three groups, in particular, one of which remains Nassef Al-Khelaifi’s QSI group and the natural span off to a potential tie in with Paris Saint-Germain, former player and BBC pundit Noel Whelan appears to have (understandably maybe) got a little bit carried away.
With plenty of fans latching onto the investment and what kind of boost it could provide our coffers if a quick deal was done ahead of the January transfer window opening – despite such an investment not actually changing what we can do under Financial Fair Play this season – Whelan fell into the same trap, although credit where it’s due, he may have assumed that if we secured investment we would then naturally pull something like the Stadium sale trick which would boost relative spending power vs loss.
Speaking to Football Insider he explained.
“I’ve seen the Radrizzani interview and it is exciting for Leeds fans. He talks about new investment if we get promoted this season. What Leeds need is investment not just for the Premier League, but for the January window. He should be looking to get a loan or some cash front-loaded for January. There is no guarantee we are going to go up. Do a deal now and get some money in. It doesn’t have to be a huge amount, just enough to immediately improve the team. I’m thinking a loan deal for someone like Dwight Gayle. He’d be perfect for us, a proven striker who could well be available and who has a brilliant record in the Championship. I can see him joining. We would just have to match his Newcastle wages, which Leeds probably wouldn’t be able to afford without new investment. That’s the reality.”
Short of an accounting trick ala the Stadium, or a significant market value sponsorship deal under the constraints of FFP, Radrizzani cannot simply put more in, or accept investment because it doesn’t go onto the books that way and taking out a loan is just daft.
I get the possible excitement, but Radz himself warned this wouldn’t be a quick process so we shouldn’t even be talking about a boost for January as it’s not going to happen (because it can’t) and whilst mentioning Dwight Gayle does get the juices flowing, Whelan, unfortunately, has just invited additional criticism in our owners direction even though what he suggests is not feasible in the rules as I understand them.
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