The Official Leeds United Thread

[Drezza]

Fair play to Rapha for not skying his penalty and cementing his 25m euro move to Barca, sounds like we've already rejected a 55m euro offer. What happens now, he wants to go but Barca aren't prepared to pay what we want, would he have to force a move or stay?

[JNW1]

Drezza said:

Fair play to Rapha for not skying his penalty and cementing his 25m euro move to Barca, sounds like we've already rejected a 55m euro offer. What happens now, he wants to go but Barca aren't prepared to pay what we want, would he have to force a move or stay?

I'd love him to stay but only if he wants to play for Leeds and is 100% committed to the club. Personally I think it's not good to have someone around the place who doesn't really want to be there so if the rumours are true about him having agreed personal terms with Barcelona - and he genuinely wants to go - I think we should grant him his wish providing our valuation is met. But IMO that valuation needs to be a lot more than 55m euros - I'm thinking £75m would be closer to the mark and arguably even that would represent a bargain given Grealish went for £100m last summer.

And of course Barcelona aren't necessarily the only show in town - Raphina is a genuine Champions League quality player so I think it's quite possible he'll attract interest from a number of clubs over the summer. That obviously makes it even less likely we'll manage to keep him but perhaps more likely we'll get a good price for him....

[Drezza]

JNW1 said:

I'd love him to stay but only if he wants to play for Leeds and is 100% committed to the club. Personally I think it's not good to have someone around the place who doesn't really want to be there so if the rumours are true about him having agreed personal terms with Barcelona - and he genuinely wants to go - I think we should grant him his wish providing our valuation is met. But IMO that valuation needs to be a lot more than 55m euros - I'm thinking 75m would be closer to the mark and arguably even that would represent a bargain given Grealish went for 100m last summer.

And of course Barcelona aren't necessarily the only show in town - Raphina is a genuine Champions League quality player so I think it's quite possible he'll attract interest from a number of clubs over the summer. That obviously makes it even less likely we'll manage to keep him but perhaps more likely we'll get a good price for him....

Yeah agreed, no point keeping him if he wants the move and he deserves champions league football, lets just hope there's a bidding war so both parties benefit.

[48Valves]

I’d love Rapha to stay, and I think he might.

You could see how much he ‘gets’ Leeds by his reaction after the final 2 games.

That said. Barca and an extra £50k (made up number) per week is hard to turn down.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

I think improvement is needed from both LB and RB.

Ayling hasn't performed this season vs last season when he was being touted for England callups. Drameh (Cardiff's player of the season despite only arriving there in Jan) is the logical ready made replacement as long as his reputed attitude changes.

Firpo has been awful. Simply no other way to put it. You'd think that buying a LB from Barcelona would come with some kind of pedigree but honestly, Alioski was better defensively and he couldn't defend to save his life. But he did offer something going forward. Firpo doesn't seem to offer either. Do we have an alternative? Sure do - step forward Leo Hjelde. Looked immense in the few cameos he's made this season.

CB we're covered even if a couple of them leave - Cooper, Koch, Llorente, Cresswell (a future great), Struijk... maybe bring someone else in if two leave.

The midfield sounds like it'll be going in the right direction if Aaronson is coming in. If Rapha leaves (and I really hope he doesn't) then wingers are covered. Would be nice to see more of Summerville next season (moreso than James!).

Up front - MASSIVE improvement needed. Yes we have Geldhart but we need a proven, mature striker to provide competition/backup for Bamford.

[resolve10]

DaveyBoyWonder said:

I think improvement is needed from both LB and RB.

Ayling hasn't performed this season vs last season when he was being touted for England callups. Drameh (Cardiff's player of the season despite only arriving there in Jan) is the logical ready made replacement as long as his reputed attitude changes.

Firpo has been awful. Simply no other way to put it. You'd think that buying a LB from Barcelona would come with some kind of pedigree but honestly, Alioski was better defensively and he couldn't defend to save his life. But he did offer something going forward. Firpo doesn't seem to offer either. Do we have an alternative? Sure do - step forward Leo Hjelde. Looked immense in the few cameos he's made this season.

CB we're covered even if a couple of them leave - Cooper, Koch, Llorente, Cresswell (a future great), Struijk... maybe bring someone else in if two leave.

The midfield sounds like it'll be going in the right direction if Aaronson is coming in. If Rapha leaves (and I really hope he doesn't) then wingers are covered. Would be nice to see more of Summerville next season (moreso than James!).

Up front - MASSIVE improvement needed. Yes we have Geldhart but we need a proven, mature striker to provide competition/backup for Bamford.

I would agree with that summary, except I still think we're light midfield even when Aaronson comes in. Forshaw has been very good but can he manage a full season? Also not likely to see Dallas until the back end of next season so that's another option gone.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

resolve10 said:

I would agree with that summary, except I still think we're light midfield even when Aaronson comes in. Forshaw has been very good but can he manage a full season? Also not likely to see Dallas until the back end of next season so that's another option gone.

True and no disrepect to Dallas or Forshaw but if we want to move on and start to become a more established premiership side, we need better. Plus they're both the wrong side of 30 I think now...

[DE1975]

Apparently Raphinha has put in a transfer request. No surprise there.

https://www.teamtalk.com/leeds-united/raphinha-tra...

Also, I see Nohan Kenneh is moving to Hibs. Shame, as he looked to have some good potential for the future, but you can't blame him for moving on for game time.

Pub quiz trivia, I wonder if he's the only player with the following record:-

1st team appearances - 0
1st team bookings received - 1

He was booked for running across the pitch to join in goal celebrations in the Wolves game, whilst an unused substitute.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

To be fair, get a good amount for him and let him go. He's been brilliant for us but theres no chance we keep him - he's far too good for us. As long as he doesn't go to another prem side, I'm not overly bothered. Hopefully ~50m profit in 2 years can't be sniffed at (although its Leeds, we'll likely sell him for 20m or something...).

[Killer2005]

DE1975 said:

Apparently Raphinha has put in a transfer request. No surprise there.

https://www.teamtalk.com/leeds-united/raphinha-tra...

That story has come from the Spanish press so perhaps should be taken with a pinch of salt. Seeing his reaction on Sunday, I really doubt he'd be putting a transfer request in a day later.

[JNW1]

Killer2005 said:

DE1975 said:

Apparently Raphinha has put in a transfer request. No surprise there.

https://www.teamtalk.com/leeds-united/raphinha-tra...

That story has come from the Spanish press so perhaps should be taken with a pinch of salt. Seeing his reaction on Sunday, I really doubt he'd be putting a transfer request in a day later.

I agree there's probably a lot of misinformation in the foreign press but I suspect the reality is Raphina gave 100% to keep us up and, having done so, now wants to move to pastures new. He's a Champions League standard player all day long and, being brutally honest, he's too good for us given where we are at the moment.

I think Barcelona were hoping we'd get relegated so the amount they'd have to pay would be less but, now we've stayed up, the question for them will be whether they can afford to pay what Raphina's worth. But regardless of whether or not he goes to Barca I do think we've seen the last of Rapha in a Leeds shirt....

[Finglescave]

I don’t begrudge Raph having his move to Barca if thats where he wants to go. After the first few games it was clear at what level he was at and his performances for Brazil just added fuel to the rumour of a big move elsewhere. Let’s be honest we weren’t gonna keep him anymore than one season unless he turned out to be complete rubbish. But thanks to his efforts we’ve stayed in the PL, so can at least have some control over the move in terms of fee, if we’d been relegated the vultures would have been circling for a rubbish price.

[edthefed]

I would love Raph to stay...

BUT i would not begrudge him a move to Barcelona after what he has done for the club - i am not sure anybody else in the team would have scored that penalty in those circumstances and guaranteed another season of premiership football

[Drezza]

Not sure how they expect to buy Rapha then...

[Finglescave]

Drezza said:

Not sure how they expect to buy Rapha then...

Depending on where you look they are either on the brink of financial meltdown or are close to securing a 1.5 billion loan from Goldman (that was a month ago mind). I do also wonder if this is just a tactic to unsettle players then crying poverty to get them for a cut down price as their heads have been turned and they player is practically out the door.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

Apparently they've removed Rapha from their shortlist of players now since we won't sell him to them on the cheap and/or take the next raft of Junior Firpo's from them in exchange. Although if you believe the press they've also sent someone over to negotiate. Garbage.

BBC also reported yesterday that Barcelona were "willing to let Mo Salah join them when his contract expires next summer". Thats nice of them!

Good that things seem to be happening on the transfer front with players coming in though. This Danish right back looks a proper unit of a defender. Strikers being linked and central midfielders. Minamino too although I'm not sure we need another winger. Need to be giving Summerville a bigger part next season instead.

[JNW1]

DaveyBoyWonder said:

Apparently they've removed Rapha from their shortlist of players now since we won't sell him to them on the cheap and/or take the next raft of Junior Firpo's from them in exchange. Although if you believe the press they've also sent someone over to negotiate. Garbage.

BBC also reported yesterday that Barcelona were "willing to let Mo Salah join them when his contract expires next summer". Thats nice of them!

Good that things seem to be happening on the transfer front with players coming in though. This Danish right back looks a proper unit of a defender. Strikers being linked and central midfielders. Minamino too although I'm not sure we need another winger. Need to be giving Summerville a bigger part next season instead.

Always hard to gauge what's really going on as there's so much speculation and false information on transfers at this time of year!

However, I can see the money for Raphina being a problem for Barcelona unless they manage to secure additional funds from somewhere. Equally, though, I still don't think Rapha will be with us next season; I think he'll (rightly) want to play Champions League football so even if he doesn't go to Barca I think he'll move on - I've seen Bayern Munich suggested as an alternative but it's likely there'll be several clubs after him so who knows where he'll end-up?

I think it's more likely we'll keep hold of Kalvin Phillips but even then it depends on who comes knocking on the door - if it's Man City or Liverpool I think it would be hard for him to turn either of those down. I've also seen rumours suggesting Jack Harrison might go but, although I like him, I wouldn't view his loss as being anywhere near as damaging as Raphina or Phillips.

In terms of incoming I agree Kristensen sounds a good player; however, if he signs I do wonder whether that will spell the end for Cody Drameh as he'll be pushed down the pecking order and unlikely to get much game time. Shame if he never really gets a chance to prove himself at Leeds but that's the way it goes sometimes.

On other prospective signings a number of the names being mentioned seem to be people Marsch has worked with either at RB Salzburg or in the MLS and the slight worry I have there is will they be good enough to move us forward in the Premier League? No disrespect to either Austria or the US but their top-tier football isn't at the same level as the PL. Ultimately I suppose we've just got to trust our management team know what they're doing although given some of Orta's previous recruitment mistakes it's hard to have a lot of confidence!

[JNW1]

More than one report on NewsNow today suggesting Man City have made a formal bid for Kalvin Phillips; hopefully they're all just quoting the same inaccurate source but there seems to be quite a lot of smoke which often means there's a fire to go with it. If it's true I can't see KP turning City down and to be honest nor should he - the next few seasons are likely to be the peak of his career and (sadly) the opportunities they'll be able to offer him in that time are likely to be far greater than what he'd get with us.

So if City do indeed come knocking I think all we can do is get the best price possible and then reinvest it wisely!

[Drezza]

I'd rather sell him for £60m + than keep him to be honest, I don't think he's been too effective under Marsch anyway, he has a pretty poor injury record and he's getting on a bit now. Can use the money to get 2 or 3 young players with potential that suit the system more. Seems like Marc Roca will be his replacement so we'll need another CM at least through the door.

Then it begs the question what will happen with Rapha...

[48Valves]

£60mil doesn’t seem much when Rice is being touted at nearer £100mil