OPINION
David Prutton is exactly right when he says that Leeds should carry on with their current transfer policy.
Writing in a column for the Yorkshire Evening Post, the pundit said that the Whites’ policy of not paying massive fees for transfer targets will help them in the long run.
“The common theme with [Leeds, Sheffield United and Norwich] is that none of what they did was down to incredible wealth or ridiculous spending power,”Prutton wrote.
“On the contrary, Norwich City made a specific effort to cut down their expenditure and take a different, more prudent approach and Sheffield United’s budget is way down the scale in Championship terms.
“They typify the way in which more and more teams are starting to think that good recruitment and costly recruitment are not necessarily the same thing.
“Marcelo Bielsa is like that, too. He needs signing like anyone else and Leeds have to get a few more ticks in the transfer market this summer but in his head a football team is a collective animal; more about the machine than individual faces.
“It’s about finding the right person for the right position rather than making obvious signings and the same can be said for Norwich and Sheffield United. Who expected Teemu Pukki to be the Championship’s player of the year?”
Prutton is bang on with his claims here. Overall, the column is about how Championship clubs – thanks to Birmingham City being deducted nine points – are now even more aware of Financial Fair Play regulations and how not to step over their red lines.
One of the ways to do that, as Prutton points out, is to have a transfer policy that is like Leeds United’s, which has a big focus on not spending massive amounts of money on obvious targets.
Not only can that sometimes work badly with the players having an ego due to their reputation as being an ‘obvious target’, but nowadays it can also land you in serious financial – and league table – trouble.
It may not have worked out for Bielsa’s men last season, with the club losing out to Derby County in the play-off semi-finals, but it would have been a lot worse if Leeds had spent the big bucks and then lost out.
It is always better to go and find the hidden gems, not only because they prove such a fantastic investment after not costing much in the first place, but they are also hailed as fantastic signings. What’s more, they don’t get you in financial trouble for being so good.
This summer, there is no doubt that Leeds need that striker that is going to fire them to Premier League promotion next term.
Patrick Bamford was perhaps one of the more ‘obvious signings’ the Whites could have gone for last summer, and his fee – up to £10million [BBC] – did not transpire into many good performances.
Therefore, there would be no harm done at all for Leeds to go out and sign a relatively unknown player – but one that Bielsa knows he can get the best out of – and who can help get his side up to the Premier League.
As Prutton says, it makes life easier financially and it makes for better footballing stories.