Rowe going to Mille. Romano and John Percy reporting. £13m by looks of it.

We're in for Manuel Benson, apparently

the 49rs are renowned for keeping their cards close to there chest. wouldn't suprise me if a couple came from nowhere

They are, but we are playing catch up again, if it backfires will spell big trouble. Hopefully we're all good but it's very very risky.

Why is all the business of outgoings and talk of incomings left so late, surely you dont get the best of the players you do bring in if theyve not had any preseason with their team?

players are used to most systems. ideally they are in for preseason but they soon fit in

The thinking is, a lot of transfers trigger a domino effect, lots of players don't become available until later in the window, and you maybe able to get a better deal. However, I have a feeling they may have miss judged this window massively

Farke pretty much said last week that players who are not now available can become available at the last minute.
That to me is a very risky strategy as to who blinks first.
Not sure if Rowe was the right choice anyway and much prefer Clarke at around 15/17 million than Rowe at 13.
Sunderland still owe a hefty amount of the transfer to Spurs.
So they would want that plus some for themselves.
Would Aaronson be better out wide and Gnonto in the 10 or even Joffy out wide?

Same here. Its very worrying. The chances of getting 4 players in of the required quality in 10 days are diminishing by the minute. We are significantly weaker than last year and didn't get promoted... even if we brought in 2 or 3, i still have doubts we're good enough, the squad is thin.

I had Sheff United and Burnley ahead of us at the start and I`m sure there will be teams such as West Brom, Hull City and Watford up there too.
With our current squad we might just make top 6 and even with reinforcements I can see us in the play offs again.

Burnley have started like a house on fire. About to lose Berge though and a couple of decent players for PSR. Still faves for promotion though imo. They’ve replaced us as bookies fav after 2 games

looks as if 2 or 3 could be coming in the next few days if all reports are correct

Same squad for Friday then as suspected. Would be nice to get a couple of them in ahead of Friday's game to give the players and fans a boost. Need to get back some positivity.

The squad needs strengthening, but that 11 should still be enough to win at Wednesday. No excuses

Graham Smyths Newsletter if anyone wants a read

Inside Elland Road with Graham Smyth

Good afternoon Rob,

Thank you for subscribing and thanks to esteemed colleague Joe Donnohue for stepping into the breach last week so brilliantly.

I went away. Zadar, Croatia. Beautiful place, would recommend. But, dear reader, I went away on the understanding that the universal law of journalism would apply as it always does. When you go away, things happen. News breaks. Players sign. The latter was a dead cert, surely? By the time I returned, roasted by the sun and seasoned by the Adriatic Sea, Leeds would have made significant headway in their recruitment and the mood would reflect my own. Relaxed. Rested. Ready for the rest of the season. Tell me it got better while I was away. Oh. It didn't get any better? Well at least tell me it didn't get any worse. Georgini...oh.






Deadline driven

If this newsletter reads at all like it is hastily written then it's because the time is almost 10am. This is scheduled to land in your inbox at noon. Before that I have to get on the road to Thorp Arch to hear from Daniel Farke. It's a good job, then, that for as long as I can remember the only thing that ever really motivates me to do anything is a deadline.

Football appears similarly driven when it comes to transfers. That deadline day has even become a thing is proof that the sport has an all-too intimate and largely toxic relationship with the final hours, minutes and seconds of transfer windows. Football and its community would be so much less neurotic if transfer windows did not build up to a frenetic, desperate, urgent climax. Even I, as a last-minute operator, can see the sense in the concept of getting your work done early.

That hasn't been the story of Leeds' summer of '24 however. Not by a long shot. And they say there's method in the madness. They say that the quality of player they hoped and believed would become available in the latter stages of the window, is what they are after.

Roland Sallai is an example. He's a name that was whispered to the YEP weeks ago but when pressed, Leeds insisted there was nothing doing. Circumstances have changed, he's now on the radar in a much more tangible way than when we became aware of his name. An experienced Bundesliga attacking midfielder with more than 50 caps for Hungary, including three starts at EURO 24. Remember when a Hungarian forward broke free down the right in the 100th minute against Scotland, getting to the byline and cutting it back for Kevin Csoboth to score the winner? That was him. He has one year left on his deal at Freiburg. Leeds say they like him. They say he's on the list.

GettyImages-2158897476Roland Sallai, left, is on Leeds' radar (Pic: Getty)

They say it's possible to get the quality they need, late in the window. They say it's just not good business to use up your budget on the quality of player who was available a few weeks ago, if it means you miss out on the ones you really wanted when they eventually and finally become available.

What they say, at this point, is entirely irrelevant. The time for talking is, for now, over. Not that Leeds have done any of that this summer, beyond poor Daniel Farke having to answer questions better aimed at those above him, those not mandated to appear at press conferences. Should the club fail to emerge from this window in a far stronger position than the one they sit in just now, squad wise, then someone north of Farke in the chain of command will face a barrage of difficult questions. Press conference or not, media round-table event or not, the questions will be published and repeated until such a time as answers are forthcoming.

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But right now, as it stands with just over a week remaining in the window, no one wants to hear what Leeds would have to say about their summer, their strategy, the whys and wherefores. Right now seeing is believing. Don't say you're active in the market to bring in depth at full-back, quality and experience in midfield, skill and pace out wide and vision in the 10 role. Just do it. Because if you do, then what you say in future will be taken seriously and at face value. If you do not, nothing you say again will ever be heard with any measure of trust or met with any approval.

The danger in playing any sort of waiting game is so obvious it barely warrants a mention. Deals can be on until they're suddenly off. Players can be in the country, in the city, in the Elland Road office, even in the kit, and the deal can go south. When there is work to do on this significant a scale, then missing out really isn't an option, is it? 'We tried' was essentially what Leeds came up with in the Georginio Rutter statement. And of course they will have. They'll have pulled at his heart strings, just as his representatives will have pulled at his ambition and pointed at Brighton's tremendous way of operating in recent years.

But 'we tried' cannot become the statement of the summer. As a small, green, wise creature once said: "Do or do not. There is no try." It has to be 'we did' and when or if Angus Kinnear does his annual appearance on The Square Ball he has to be talking about the way business came together successfully at the last minute, not mounting a defence of brave efforts that were thwarted by circumstances beyond Leeds' control, or highlighting the exciting potential of young, unproven players. There can be no more talk of 90 points, not when four of the key starters in the team that earned that tally have been sold off - especially if they are not adequately replaced.

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Raking in the transfer fees that Leeds have from selling their most exciting young homegrown player, their very best player and their most entertaining visionary, doing a deal with Red Bull and statements like: "And so whether somebody yields a profit or not, we're going to be fine, and we're going to be able to do what we need to do to compete, to be the best team or one of the best teams on the pitch this coming season. That is not just my hope but my expectation," can only be followed by a final week of the window that delivers in a big, big way.

No one can expect Leeds to go and get a Summerville or a Rutter. Those are players who really ought to be in the Premier League or a European top flight. Everyone is expecting them to bring in players who can do what needs to be done in the Championship though, with goals and assists that will get this team up.

The parachute payment clock is ticking, just as the window is ticking away. Leeds are entering the 80th minute of the summer in need of goals, plural. They're in must-win territory. Whatever it is they come up with has to be convincing, conclusive proof that they knew what they were doing all along and that these owners are not flying by the seat of their pants directly into a storm.







Busy

That's all for this week's newsletter. Essentially, for those who prefer extreme brevity, sign some players. Good ones. Don't tell us you're busy, show us.

Sheffield Wednesday up next and a win would be most welcome. A new signing before that would be equally welcome and though there are rumblings that Leeds are closing in on a target. We're as yet unable to say which one. Leeds are, perhaps understandably, reticent to count any chickens before they hatch or do any premature crowing. But that would be a nice boost and a lift. God knows one is needed. As soon as anything happens we'll be all over it with the usual belt and braces coverage.

Take care,

Graham