Don Goodman shares Leeds United concern amid £190m development as Southampton example raised
Don Goodman says it is “imperative” Leeds United earn promotion to the Premier League one way or another to ease their financial concerns.
The Whites’ latest accounts show they owe up to £190million in transfer fees, £73m of which has to be paid by the end of June.
Returning to the top flight would help to bring in much-needed funds, but United’s hopes of going up automatically have been massively derailed.
Speaking to MOT Leeds News, Goodman said: “It’s hard to find the words as to what it will mean if they don’t go up in terms of the season they’ve had and the position they’ve put themselves in. It would be, not quite a disaster – that’s too strong a word – but it would not be good at all given the finances.
“You already look at what happened last summer and you question the policy of building loan possibilities into players’ futures in the event of relegation. It means players were able to leave on loan that they could have got decent money for.
“You look at Southampton, they brought in something like £165million for selling three or four assets. That’s what Leeds should have been doing last summer and then none of these problems would have come about. But they didn’t, and that comes down to the logistics of the contracts they struck with the agents of these players.
“They were all favourable to the players and not Leeds United. The future is not bleak as such if they don’t go up, but they could lose players and it would make it harder then to get promoted to the Premier League. Even if they do end up in the play-offs, it’s imperative they win those. The pressure is on for them to get back to the Premier League in order to ease their financial problems.”
Leeds United must consider selling high earners
Leeds still do not know what division they will be in next season, of course, so it is difficult to plan beyond next month.
At the same time, if the Whites do miss out on promotion then they need to look to get some high-earning players off their books as soon as possible.
Supporters will clearly not want the team’s best performers to move on, but the brutal truth is that promotion was a must this season.
Leeds will simply need to adapt and be smart with their transfer dealings. As we have seen with Leicester City, Everton and Nottingham Forest, you can no longer brush financial issues under the carpet.
Ultimately, the cost of failing to go up is that the team will be weakened in the summer. There can be no complaints.
In other Leeds United news, a player out on loan is now facing a spell on the sidelines
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