Javi Gracia tasked with safeguarding Leeds United takeover with 49ers deal in jeopardy
Javi Gracia will need to be successful in keeping Leeds United in the Premier League or the impending 49ers takeover could be thrown into doubt.
The Spaniard was appointed on Tuesday (21 February) to finally end the messy search for a successor to Jesse Marsch, with top flight survival his primary objective.
Should he fail, aside from the obvious implications for the playing squad, there could be major changes in the plans for the 49ers to take 100% control, with Sky Sports reporting that the current deal that is in place giving them the option to do so before January 2024 “depends on the club staying up”.
Andrea Radrizzani has acknowledged previously that he isn’t the man to fund the club going forward, and while the Americans already own 44% Louise Taylor in The Guardian suggests the buy-out “could well hinge” on staying up.
Writing after the appointment of Gracia she said: “The deal would almost certainly be placed in jeopardy by a fall into the Championship.”
High stakes
Clearly, the prospect of buying a Premier League club with all the riches that entails is a far different one from taking over a side that has just fallen from the promised land.
At present there is still a system of parachute payments, and the attacking riches at under-21s level might make a quick return likely, but there are a lot of top flight clubs that expected that to happen and it never did.
Leeds United fans know as well as any how long the wait can be, having gone nearly two decades outside of the Premier League before Marcelo Bielsa took the club up.
The plans to revamp Elland Road are long overdue, and last season showed that it takes near-constant investment in the playing squad to compete at the top level in modern football, and this season has proven that even then it is not guaranteed.
The previous transfer window, albeit geared towards Marsch, gave a flavour of what the 49ers Enterprises are capable of bringing to the club, with extensive January expenditure on Max Wober and Georginio Rutter, with the potential to add Weston McKennie for big money at the end of the season.
Radrizzani isn’t up to that, and while last month’s haul has so far done nothing to the club’s form amid the mess at manager, it shows that there is so much more than just which grounds the fans will be travelling to next season at stake with Gracia’s arrival.
It is almost certainly an improvement on leaving Michael Skubala in a position he never asked for and hoping for the best, but the board seriously need to have got the decision right, even if it is far later than it should have been.
In other Leeds United news, the club are now leading the race to sign an in-demand young attacking talent from a European giant.