Phil Hay has claimed in his latest article for The Athletic that Leeds United took on the January window in the mindset of an elite club, despite failing to see any new faces arrive at Thorp Arch.
The January window may be viewed as an unsuccessful one for Marcelo Bielsa and his staff given their only transaction seeing Cody Drameh depart for Cardiff City on loan.
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It is believed the Whites held strong interest in the potential signing of the RB Salzburg ace, Brenden Aaronson, but an agreement was unable to be found between the two clubs with numerous bids rejected.
However, Hay has claimed the Whites approached the window in a positive manner with a clear shortlist of players they wanted and were not forced into panic buying.
“In pursuing a brief list of targets, Leeds are thinking like elite clubs do, just without an elite squad to build on,” said Hay.
“This is how it went with Manchester City and Harry Kane last summer: if a deal can’t be done for him specifically, keep the cash and don’t panic.”
TIF Thoughts on Phil Hay’s claim and Leeds United’s window…
The Yorkshire club have had a troublesome season so far with injuries depriving Bielsa of a lot of his star players from his matchday squad.
And despite being stuck towards the bottom-end of the Premier League table, Leeds were not forced into any late deals because they had missed out on a player who could become available in the summer.
However, there is a lot lying on the second half of the campaign with their relegation rivals, Newcastle United and Burnley, adding to their sides over the month.
So, with this in mind, it will be interesting to see whether Leeds are left to regret their decision not to force any late deals will come back to bite the by the end of the season.
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