OPINION
With the January transfer window to open within the next fortnight, speculation is intensifying as to the business Leeds United can do to strengthen their squad ahead of the second half of the campaign.
United top the Championship and are well placed to secure automatic promotion, but they also have a relatively thin squad by the standards of the division’s big spenders.
Following the exit of Samuel Saiz on Getafe on Monday, the return of loanee Jamal Blackman to Chelsea and a string of serious injuries to key men, there are holes in the squad that need plugging.
No journalist knows the machinations of Leeds better than Phil Hay, the longstanding Yorkshire Evening Post correspondent.
In the latest edition of his must-listen weekly Inside Elland Road podcast, Hay explains that the team’s position in the table offers a great opportunity to make the January reinforcements that could turn a promotion challenge into a top-two finish.
But it’s one he fears the club won’t use because of restricted resources.
“It’s a case of biting the bullet isn’t it? That feeling of being in such a strong position heading into January, you don’t want to leave yourself short, you don’t want to get found out because you’ve left a vacancy you really should have filled” Hay told the Inside Elland Road podcast (17:30).
“Money will dictate this and Leeds don’t have much of this at the moment. They’re not going to benefit from cash coming in from Saiz, either, because the permanent option isn’t lined up until next summer.
“It’s not in any way certain Bielsa will feels he needs to do anything.”
Hay’s revelation about a lack of money isn’t a major surprise – the club have hardly been bigger spenders during the Andrea Radrizzani era despite lucrative sales of Chris Wood, Charlie Taylor and Ronaldo Vieira – but it is alarming, nonetheless.
It is a question of ambition and intent. Do Leeds have enough of it?
Radrizzani is articulate, well schooled in public relations but there is a sense he talks a better game than the one he plays, notwithstanding the Bielsa masterstroke appointment.
Leeds fans will be massively deflated if the club aren’t willing to offer Bielsa the cash to make significant January improvements, especially in the goalkeeper and playmaker positions.