OPINION
Leeds United could storm to the Championship title if they bring in the two loan signings Angus Kinnear has suggested are on the cards this month.
The Elland Road managing director used his programme notes ahead of Leeds’ 2-0 Championship win against Rotherham on Saturday to deliver a transfer update that will be regarded as both exciting and hugely promising by supporters who might have assumed the team’s stunning start to the season would have killed off any squad reinforcement plans.
“So while the football department will actively monitor the market until the end of the loan window which closes at the end of the month, we feel we are doing so from a position of relative strength,” Kinnear wrote, as quoted by the official Leeds website.
“We believe that one or two opportunities are likely to present themselves but they will need to manifestly strengthen our hand if they are to be pursued.”
That Marcelo Bielsa has worked wonders with the squad he inherited this summer, supplemented by just five new signings, three of them on loan, is without question.
The Argentine has turned water into wine after a mediocre group limped to a 13th place finish last season.
But it would be naive and even reckless to assume that the squad at Bielsa’ disposal is strong enough to maintain their remarkable start to the season over the course of the Championship marathon.
Injuries and suspensions, and loss of form, are all the inevitable by-products of a 46-match campaign.
Leeds fans only have to cast their minds back to the 2017-18 campaign that initially promised so much before reality struck and the team failed to live up to expectations.
Kinnear is honest enough to admit that Bielsa will need to make use of the “entire squad” to maximise United’s promotion chances, with each of the two players competing for every position having a key role to play.
With the Championship loan window open for another 11 days, Leeds can seal the two signings – ideally at centre-back and central midfield – needed to take the side all the way back to the Premier League.
They must be ambitious and decisive.
Failure to do so could be counter-productive in their chase for automatic promotion, even with the remarkable Bielsa at the steering wheel.