Presenter Jack Collins was joined by journalists Dean Jones and Sam Tighe on the latest edition of Bleacher Report’s Football Ranks podcast and the panel spent some time discussing Leeds United ahead of their return to the Premier League for the 2020/21 campaign, during the show.
Leeds United will play in England’s top-flight for the first time in 16 years in the 2020/21 season after they earned promotion from England’s second-tier as winners of the Championship last season. At the end of the 2019/20 campaign, Marcelo Bielsa’s side had a 10-point lead on second-placed West Bromwich Albion.
While Ben White, who played every minute for Leeds in their title-winning 2019/20 Championship campaign, has returned to his parent club Brighton and Hove Albion ahead of the 2020/21 season, Leeds have signed Helder Costa and Illan Meslier, who were on loan at Elland Road last season, on a permanent basis ahead of their Premier League return, whilst they have also added Spain international Rodrigo and Germany international Robin Koch to their squad for the 2020/21 campaign.
Teenagers Joe Gelhardt and Cody Drameh have also joined Leeds permanently in the current transfer window and winger Jack Harrison has returned to the Yorkshire-based club for another loan spell.
However, despite all of this, Jones was pessimistic about the Whites’ chances of avoiding relegation from the Premier League during this recent edition of Bleacher Report’s Football Ranks podcast.
The journalist said: “I don’t see them going very well. I just don’t have much faith in it.
“Their team is decent at best, but is it any better than Bournemouth last season? No, it’s not as good, probably, as Bournemouth last season, to be honest.
“They’re going to be bringing in new people like Rodrigo – is Rodrigo going to be a game-changer? Is he going to score loads of goals? No, he’s not going to score loads of goals.
“I just don’t think that there is enough there for Leeds to do this.”
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TIF Thoughts…
So, as can be seen in what Jones had to say, he isn’t convinced that the Whites have got enough quality to avoid a quick return to England’s second-tier.
Considering that Leeds have not competed in England’s top-flight for 16 years, it is difficult to predict exactly how they will fare in the 2020/21 campaign, however, knowing that they won last season’s Championship by a considerable margin and they have strengthened their squad this summer by signing international players such as Rodrigo and Koch, we feel that it may be far too early to write them off.