Leeds United in similar scenario despite ‘huge loss’ – talkSPORT pundit
It has been an extremely busy summer at Leeds United and the signs would suggest that it isn’t going to be slowing down anytime soon.
Victor Orta has already masterminded six new additions to Jesse Marsch’s senior squad, all of which are currently in Australia on the club’s pre-season tour but there have also been significant outgoings.
Most notably, Kalvin Phillips has left his boyhood club to join Premier League champions Manchester City while Raphinha seems about to join Barcelona after a very prolonged transfer saga.
TalkSPORT pundit Darren Ambrose though is not as concerned about that double exit as others given the new signings already made by the club and the potential for more to come.
“I don’t think they’re in a worse spot,” Ambrose said. “If you look at the players they have signed, Champions League players, Bundesliga players, they’re a good team.
“These are players that he has managed so he knows what they’re about. Yes, they have lost two of their best players but Kalvin Phillips only played 20 games last season.
“He’s a huge loss for them I know but he didn’t play that many games and the issue they had was strength in depth.
“They’ve gained £100million on two players and signed six for about £90million so they could go out and sign another one, two, three players to give them strength in depth.”
Perfect summer
Losing your best two players is not often considered as the best-case scenario but for Leeds United right now, that might have been exactly what they needed at this moment in time.
The 2021-22 campaign was one that no one will want to remember having only just survived relegation on the final day at the expense of Burnley and big things needed to change.
Most notably, Marcelo Bielsa’s imprint needed to be overhauled by Marsch’s own and that has been the main focus of the transfer window so far and it has worked to this point.
Every new addition has been in the ideal mould of what the American wants and we have got them all relatively stress-free while actually turning a profit due to the big sales of Phillips and Raphinha.
We are now becoming more of a team than a group of individuals which is something we were badly lacking for large parts of last season and now we have become the unit we need to be to retain our Premier League status.
In other Leeds United news, efforts are intensifying on our side to sign our seventh player of the summer and this one might be the most exciting of the lot.