Leeds United journalist Phil Hay has recently talked about the club’s plans and budget for the upcoming summer transfer window.
Hay appeared on the latest episode of The Phil Hay Show podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Whites. One topic of discussion was the club’s transfers and Hay was asked about the club’s plans for the summer and the budget for it. Hay revealed that while Leeds will recruit in the summer, the amount that they spend will depend on other factors.
Should Leeds spend heavily in the summer?
Yes
No
The Whites currently find themselves at 11th in the Premier League and they are only two points behind tenth-placed Arsenal and four points behind ninth-placed Tottenham. They’ve already been knocked out of the FA Cup, which means that the Premier League is the only competition that they’re currently involved in.
Hay talked about the impact of the pandemic on the club’s budget and he believes that if Leeds feel confident about their financial position and don’t find their money stretched by the pandemic, they could do ‘significant’ business.
He said: “Without a doubt, they’re going to want the crowds back in next season, because again, to take Leeds as an example, they’ve rolled over 20,000 season tickets which were paid for for this season and now there for next season, but that revenue disappears – that revenue for next season is no longer available.
“So that is going to influence things. You would like to think that come August-September time, we’ll be much further down the road with vaccinations and that actually, people will be getting it together with a proper concerted plan to get crowds back in and something that’s going to hold.
“But yeah, I think if they feel confident about their financial position, and I think if they don’t feel ridiculously stretched by [the pandemic] and also by the previous summer window, then they absolutely will do significant business, I think they will definitely recruit one way or the other, but the amount they’re able to spend is going to depend on other factors.”
TIF Thoughts on Leeds’ summer transfer plans…
In the summer of 2020, Leeds spent as much as £96.1m on transfers and they didn’t receive any income from player sales. They signed Rodrigo, Diego Llorente, Raphinha, Robin Koch, while loan moves for Illan Meslier and Helder Costa were made permanent (as per Transfermarkt).
This shows that the board does have the capacity to spend big when given the chance and if the finances aren’t impacted by the pandemic, they may yet spend a similar amount.
The Leeds squad is arguably in need of more depth in midfield, considering that Kalvin Phillips is their only out-and-out defensive-midfield option in the senior side. On top of that, Mateusz Klich and Jamie Shackleton are their only fit options in central midfield (as per Transfermarkt).
This shows that the squad clearly needs investment and they should look to add more depth in the side.