Former Leeds United player Danny Mills has claimed that his former side needs to invest this summer in order to avoid stagnation in the Premier League.
Marcelo Bielsa’s men have had an incredible first season back in the Premier League, and look set to finish comfortably clear of danger, something they haven’t been able to say about themselves very often since the turn of the millennium.
Next season, though, is set to be a completely different challenge, and speaking on the TalkSport Gameday podcast, Mills felt that the club needed to bring in some fresh faces because he felt that some of the players who have been in the system for so long won’t be able to back that up with another great campaign given Bielsa’s style of play:
“They have to evolve next season, they have to bring in some quality because they’ve had three unbelievably good years, intense. They blew it in the play-offs but they were still very, very good up until sort of three, four games to go of that season. Then they got themselves promoted and they’ve done incredibly well this season.
“You’ve got to refresh that, we’ve seen what’s happened to Manchester City in the past – after three great seasons you have a dip; Liverpool – three great seasons, you have a dip. It’s very hard to go four and five in a row at that same intensity and that same quality.”
Do you want Leeds to spend as much as they did last summer?
No, it wouldn't be sustainable
Yes, go out and improve the team
TIF Thoughts on Danny Mills’ comments about Leeds United this summer…
Mills’ comments put Leeds in a similar situation to that of Sheffield United last season and this one. They too had a fantastic season, but they went on to suffer a terrible campaign this time around.
So Leeds United can’t afford to rest on their laurels and stick with what they have got, they need to add some quality if they are to move forward, or at the very least not go backward.
Whether that be in a defence that has conceded the sixth-most in the division, or in an attack that has an expected goal rate of -6.5, something has got to change. It probably won’t be wholesale, but still a few tweaks here and there to keep things ticking over may be required.
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