OPINION
Leeds United could pocket themselves just under £200million at the end of this season.
That is how much promotion to the Premier League is reportedly worth and despite the defeat to Sheffield United on Saturday, it would take a brave man to bet against Leeds to return to the top-flight this term.
The Whites have been battling away in the second and third tiers over the last decade and a half but Marcelo Bielsa’s appointment as manager last summer appears to have been the catalyst in a serious bid for promotion in 2018/19.
While Leeds are now third in the Championship, they are very much still in the race to go up, and if they do go up, Sky Sports pundit Michael Brown has claimed that the Yorkshire club could really take off from there due to the financial rewards of the Premier League.
“They’re just desperate for the Premier League,” Brown said on Sky Sports Main Event [Saturday, 12:25pm] before the 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United.
“The sheer amount of revenue they can create at this football club, if they can get back to the Premier League, I think they can go on and on.”
It is certainly a mouthwatering claim by Brown and proof of just how important it is that Leeds win promotion this season.
As long as Andrea Radrizzani is willing to splash some of that cash in the summer then the Whites could definitely become a force to be reckoned with over the space of a few years.
We’ve seen teams with much smaller followings than the Yorkshire giants establish themselves in the top-flight, but also hit a glass ceiling which may be down to their lack of expansion.
Watford and Bournemouth are two good examples. They have been in the Premier League for a few years now and neither have really pressed on from being a team that can regularly finish between seventh and tenth.
That may be down to the fact that these aren’t what you would necessarily call ‘big clubs’ (sorry Watford and Bournemouth fans).
However with Leeds, Elland Road can pack in just under 40,000 people and there is definitely the opportunity for the ground to be expanded in the future if the club is promotion and continues to pick up the fat paycheque from the Premier League.
The sky is the limit for Leeds, and the club’s entire fanbase should take the moment to sit back and dream about returning to their former glory.
It is hard to not get excited by what Brown said.