Troy Deeney moots new Leeds United plan already after Southampton loss at Wembley
Leeds United immediately have to start preparing for another season of Championship football after their play-off final defeat to Southampton, says Troy Deeney.
The former Watford striker discussed the Whites’ future plans on Sky Sports (26 May) post-match, and questioned what direction Daniel Farke’s side will take to go one better in next season’s promotion bid.
Southampton’s 1-0 win at Wembley means that the Whites face another summer of uncertainty, with player sales expected and questions over who the club will bring in as adequate replacements.
In quotes reported by the Yorkshire Evening Post, Deeney said: “I think for Leeds as a whole it’s a big summer for them in identifying what they’re going to do.
“We’ve been there when you lose and every one of them, from managers to physios, they’re questioning themselves and it becomes a really long summer.
“They need, in my opinion, a meeting or a text or something tomorrow that says this is what we’re doing, we had Plan A, Plan B and Plan C.”
Uncertain summer awaits at Elland Road
Leeds, unlike fellow relegated sides Leicester and Southampton, failed to secure an immediate return to the Premier League this season, meaning another 46-game campaign in the second tier awaits.
That won’t be the case for some of the Whites’ key performers this season though, with top players like Crysencio Summerville and Wilfried Gnonto expected to be the subject of bids from clubs in the Premier League and beyond.
A plethora of loanees, who jumped ship after relegation last season, are also in line to return, leaving Farke with a squad which will need both streamlining and then improving if his side are to avoid continuing their woeful play-off record when May 2025 rolls around.
The Peacocks bounced back from play-off heartbreak in 2019 to win the Championship by 10 points a year later, and after recording a 90-point haul which would have seen them automatically promoted in almost every other season, a solid window of summer business can tee Leeds up to finish the job next time around.
In other Leeds United news, prime minister Rishi Sunak reacted to the result of the playoff final.
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