Leeds to ‘risk transfer catastrophe’ or make West Ham prayer
Leeds United have been warned about the risks of Premier League promotion.
The Whites are in pole position to secure a place in the top flight for the first time since the 2022/23 season.
Daniel Farke‘s side laboured to a 1-1 draw against West Brom (1 March) which seen their margin at the summit reduced to three points.
However, they are still the favourites to be promoted as they are still five points above third-placed Burnley, even if the Lancashire outfit win their game in hand.
Leeds promotion could prove catastrophic
The Peacocks have been warned by Football League Paper journalist Chris Dunlavy (page 7, 2 March) that they have two options to ensure survival if they are promoted to the Premier League.
He believes that the Elland Road outfit can either spend a significant amount in the hopes of staying up or pray that Wolves or West Ham have a terrible season.
He said: “Such is the financial power of the Premier League, and the sophistication of their recruitment structures, that erstwhile strugglers like Crystal Palace and Bournemouth are now light years ahead of the Championship.
“For promoted sides, this basically leaves two options. Cross your fingers and hope that a Wolves or a West Ham will have an exceptionally bad year or spend an awful lot of money and risk catastrophe if you get relegated.”
Leeds must be sensible with summer business
The Whites’ recent business shows that they can be sensible in the transfer market, the best example of this is the £2.9million deal for Ao Tanaka, who already looks like a Premier League quality midfielder.
Another example is Joe Rodon, who was signed for a fee of £10million and looks out of place playing in the second tier.
| Championship stats (24/25 season) | Rodon |
| Matches | 35 |
| Pass accuracy | 92.5% |
| Blocks (per 90) | 0.20 (78th percentile) |
| Recoveries (per 90) | 4.21 (84th percentile) |
The Yorkshire outfit have also shown that they will not spend money for the sake of it in the winter transfer market where they never signed anybody because they could not find a player that would improve Farke’s squad.
They need to find a balance between those two approaches and find top-flight quality for good value otherwise an immediate relegation could set the club back in terms of financial regulations and they may face another long wait to play in the highest echelons again.
That would be unfathomable for the Leeds faithful, the club belongs in the Premier League and they will hope to get it right and stay there for a long time if they hold on and secure promotion at the end of the current campaign.