OPINION
The Leeds United think tank have been widely praised for their summer transfer business, with 16 new signings arriving and a handful of big names departing.
Chris Wood and Charlie Taylor were the headline departures, and the holes they left behind in the team have become increasingly apparent during a run of three consecutive defeats that have acted as a reality check to United’s promotion bid.
But the absence of the Burnley pair, whose exits secured Leeds a combine £22million windfall, has been just as keenly felt as that of another 2016-17 mainstay Rob Green.
The former England international had taken on the role of back-up goalkeeper before he decided that a season understudying Felix Wiedwald in the Championship was not how he wanted to spend one of the final years of his career.
Green, 37, quit for Premier League new boys Huddersfield, where he has yet to make his debut.
Thomas Christiansen’s decision to demote Green at the start of the season and make Wiedwald his number one was a brave one, and a clear sign the new manager wanted a sweeper-keeper better able to build attacks from the back.
Distribution has never been Green’s strength, but he overcame a mixed start to his United career to become a key member of the team that challenged for promotion under Garry Monk and he was arguably their outstanding player in the final months of last season.
Dropping the veteran was harsh, but selling him at the end of the summer window always looked dumb. It now appears to be an epic blunder by Christiansen and director of football Victor Orta.
Christiansen admitted he would “analyse” the performance of goalkeeper Wiedwald in the wake of the weekend defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, while not wishing to place individual responsibility on the German for United’s defeat at Hillsborough.
But the £500,000 signing from Werder Bremen again showed a lack of dominance and control of his box and both of Gary Hooper’s goals should have been prevented.
Wiedwald looks nervous, which cannot be good for the back four in front of him, and the goalkeeping woes are all the more difficult to swallow for fans in light of the excellent displays last season from his predecessor.
Christiansen and his team now have two weeks to work with Wiedwald before the clash at home to Reading after the international break and improvements quickly need to be made.
The experienced Andy Lonergan and young Bailey Peacock-Farrell are the other goalkeeping options at Christiansen’s disposal and, unsurprisingly, there are plenty of calls for a change in between the sticks after the international break.
Leeds would have saved themselves too much navel-gazing if they had simply recognised they already had a super safe pair of hands in Monk favourite Green.