Seb Stafford-Bloor has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s Tifo Podcast about various topics from the world of football.
One of the issues that he spent some time on was whether Leeds United will struggle as badly as Sheffield United have in their second season back in the top flight.
Last season under Chris Wilder, Sheffield United finished in ninth place and earned over 50 points; however, this season has been a disaster, and they have just 14 points, and Wilder has left the club.
Leeds are newly promoted and currently have 42 points with eight games to go, so they could quite easily pass the 50-point mark, and Stafford-Bloor doesn’t think that Leeds will perform as badly as the Blades next season, but he does think they could regress if they don’t use the transfer window wisely.
He said: “I think Leeds have been dealing with a slightly higher calibre of player. Don’t get me wrong, Leeds have been a basket case club for a generation. Marcelo Bielsa has done wonderful things to seemingly cure that.
“I think if you look at the quality of the players that have been giving contributions, so Raphinha is a really good example, isn’t he?
“In the first season when Sheffield United came up, Sheffield United would not have tried to find a Raphinha from somewhere, they’d have relied on Ollie Norwood, and they’d have given John Lundstram a chance; they did brilliantly well in that first season.
“I think Leeds will probably regress back if they don’t recruit well over the summer.”
Do you think Leeds will struggle next season?
No, we will get better
Yes, it might be tough
TIF Thoughts on Leeds…
For their first season back in the Premier League for 16 years, the Whites have done very well and find themselves 16 points clear of the relegation zone.
They have also provided some brilliant entertainment and have scored the seventh-most goals in the league but also conceded the joint-fifth most.
However, this seems to be a strong warning from Stafford-Bloor that Leeds have to strengthen the squad and make the right signings.
In the last summer transfer window, Leeds spent just under £100m on signings and given their league position; you would have to say that it was money well spent.
It will be interesting to see what they do in the summer, but we can see a bright future for the Whites if Bielsa stays.
In other news: Finance expert drops claim on Jean-Kevin Augustin court case at Leeds United