Andrea Radrizzani has sanctioned a plethora of new deals at Leeds United in an attempt to quell disquiet in his dressing room, according to Football Insider.
The Italian owner was faced with an imbalance in his playing staff after green lighting expensive contracts for Kiko Casilla and Patrick Bamford last term, and it is understood that this led to dissatisfaction amongst many first team squad members.
As a result, Radrizzani has sought to close that pay gap with a number of big money deals in recent times, with Kalvin Phillips, Liam Cooper, Stuart Dallas, Mateusz Klich and Luke Ayling all benefitting or set to benefit from the chairman’s new wage structure, according to the report.
Is this the right thing for Radrizzani to do?
There are really two schools of thought on the matter.
On the one hand, an unhappy dressing room is not going to be playing its best football, and if the team is not performing on the pitch, that is going to lead to stagnation and further problems down the line for Radrizzani and his boardroom.
They say you have to speculate to accumulate, and this is probably a fine example of this.
On the other, expensive new deals without the guarantee of increased revenue could prove to be a costly gamble.
You feel that it is now more important than ever that Leeds gain promotion back to the Premier League this season, or they could, theoretically, be faced with a wage bill that is unwieldy and unsustainable in the second tier.
From a footballing point of view, however, this was an entirely necessary evil.
When you l0ok at the level of talent that Leeds have in their squad, it was always going to lead to a situation whereby they had to stump up or risk losing their best players.
Let’s take Kalvin Phillips as an example.
The 23-year-old recently put pen to paper on a new deal, having been heavily linked with a move away from Elland Road over the summer, as per The Sun.
And it was imperative that Marcelo Bielsa kept a hold of him this season.
So far this term he has averaged a pass completion rate of 87.3%, including 71.3% accuracy when those passes are into the final third, as per Wyscout.
As a point of reference, N’Golo Kante, a World Cup winner in Phillips’ defensive midfield position, has averaged 84.6% pass accuracy, with 71.4% into the final third, as per Wyscout.
Similarly, Phillips has won 67% of his defensive duels this term, compared to Kante’s 60%.
The message is, therefore, a clear one.
If you have players who are matching World Cup winners stride for stride while your club is still in the Championship, then you have to pay the big bucks to keep them.