Leeds United transfer news: 49ers ‘strategic’ January plan verdict issued with three positions named – Phil Hay
The 49ers will look to be “strategic” in the January transfer window by signing Leeds United players for “further down the line”, according to Phil Hay.
On The Square Ball podcast on 6 November the Athletic journalist said that the club plan to avoid being “knee-jerk” in the winter window and are unlikely to do a “massive” amount of business in the market.
However, he named three positions – number 10, left-back and right-back – as potential areas of interest for strengthening, although cautioned that the new owners are unlikely to want to sign a “six-month hit” solely for the second half of the current campaign.
Assessing the window Hay said (29m): “I think the 49ers will try to be, and have tried to be, far more strategic with recruitment.
“What I mean by that is they will want to avoid being knee-jerk in January. I don’t think they’ll want to get to the start of the window and say, ‘Actually we weren’t going to do this but shall we suddenly do this?’
“I think they’ll want to know at this point what is likely to be in the pipeline. Transfers that they make or any signings that they do they want to be of use further down the line rather than purely a six-month hit, although that again will depend a bit on injuries and other things.
“I don’t look at too many positions through the squad and think there’s actually much call to add players there. They’ll have to be careful about signing players in positions where those players are unlikely to play.
“At [number] 10 you can see the need for a little more in the way of resources. I still wonder about left-back behind [Sam] Byram because it’s very difficult to know what we’re going to get from [Junior] Firpo. And obviously on the right side of defence with [Djed] Spence still missing that hasn’t really settled down.
“But it certainly shouldn’t be a January window where you feel you need to do a massive amount”.
Augmentation
At this point it is largely a matter of it not being broke so not needing to fix it at Elland Road as the early-season turmoil seems a long way away and the Whites are rounding into strong form.
They aren’t immune to a bad result on an off day, such as the 1-0 loss at Stoke City on 25 October, but the victory by the same scoreline at record-setting leaders Leicester on Friday (3 November) shows the strength this team has.
However, Joel Piroe was the quietest man in the starting XI on the night and has now gone four games without a goal as Daniel Farke continues to use him as a number 10, having missed out on Nadiem Amiri in controversial circumstances in the summer.
The Dutchman was signed from Swansea in the summer window and expected to be the long-awaited answer at striker, but the question of how to get the best out of him and Georginio Rutter persists.
Byram has more than proven his worth as free agent pick-up but was arguably the weak link at the King Power, and until Firpo sees some action it is impossible to know if he is more suited the the Championship than he was to the Premier League, if indeed he can even stay fit.
Those two positions could be added to if the option is there, but assuming Spence returns from injury sooner rather than later the assumption is that he will take over at the other full-back spot.
Farke has entrusted 17-year-old revelation Archie Gray to fill in over veteran Luke Ayling but between the three, with Jamie Shackleton another option, the area would probably be covered.
The wildcard in the whole equation is of course potential departures, and while speculation has mounted around dynamic stars Crysencio Summerville and Rutter there is reason to believe they intend to stay for now.
Willy Gnonto seems the most obvious departure, having pushed to leave already this year and since become only a back-up option, and reports are already emerging of talks ahead of January.
If anyone does go the need to find a replacement might increase urgency in the New Year, but otherwise the 49ers’ view to buy for the future would make more sense from a position of strength then it did from one of weakness last year when a club-record £35.5million [Sky Sports, 15 January] was forked out for Rutter only for him to be a non-factor until after relegation.
In other Leeds United news, Adam Pope is concerned about an ongoing “issue” with a player who has been absolutely crucial so far.