Its now getting closer to the start of the new season and we have played a couple of pre season friendlies, with another one tonight against Fleetwood. The U23s were used against Guisley and their manager said it was a tough game for them because these young men were top quality. They put Guisley to the sword all night and Summerville and Gelhardt got special mentions. As with the first team there were a few significant absentees for the game: Sean McGurk and Lewis Bate were new to the squad so obviously on litter patrol at TA and doing laps. Adam Forshaw played 30 minutes and got a great reception from the Leeds fans. Forshaw said he was nearly in tears when he came on because his wife and kids were in the crowd, and he said his son had never seen him play for Leeds due to him being too young to remember. He said his boy could now brag that his dad plays for Leeds Utd. Forshaw got me thinking about something Phil Hay spoke about last Summer. He said Bielsa thinks Forshaw is the best player at the club! Phil qualified this by saying that he sees something in Forshaw that would work for the club and team, if only he could get fit. Prior to his injury Bielsa was raving about him…. An interview Bielsa gave to an Argentine football magazine last week which has been translated. Believe it or not Bielsa spoke about Adam Forshaw. He said Leeds have been unlucky as Forshaw could have made the difference in season 1, but said he hoped he was going to be able to play at Leeds level and if he can he will be valuable. He said that Forshaw could play at Champions League level and had a big heart and engine. High praise when you think that Forshaw has spent almost all of his career in the Championship, yet look what Bielsa sees in players and how he can turn them into worldies like Kalvin Phillips. The same interview he also mentioned Phillips and laughed at the ‘Yorkshire Pirlo’ name. He said Pirlo is unique and nothing like Phillips, but he added that Phillips is also unique in today’s game and can be compared to players I have had doing this role in the past. For Newells I had Franco and Martino, For Argentina I had Simeone and Almayda, For Chile I had Medel, and Phillips is at the same level as these were around the world. Phillips is Diego Simeone not Pirlo. 3 Portsmouth academy players have been sacked because they shared a text about the 3 England players that missed penalties. So 3 school-kids get their careers trashed because they did what all school-kids do. Portsmouth you wokewankers Transfers all around Europe are moving slowly and all because of greed. Yesterday a team mate of KK at Ruben Kasan said he advised KK to pick up the phone to Leeds or forget his dreams. Orta has spoken to KK who was valued at £5m but Kasan want £20m so walked away. Keiron Trippier is wanted by Man Utd but his club want £30m so Man Utd will wait until the window closes and expect prices to drop fast. We have been linked with loads of players and we know that talks have been held but sky high prices means we walked away. Its expected that the log-jam will break the closer we get to the window closing. Transfer window net Spend, means transfers out and in combined, and this may surprise you. Ben White hasn’t been added to Arsenals spend yet and obviously there will be a lot of spending to happen yet, but it shows how much offloading players has taken place so far. It also shows that there is going to be an explosion of spending soon by top clubs as mostly its been free transfers in the very top clubs. Man Utd …………£73m Palace…………….£41m Leicester …………£40m Villa ……………...£28m Leeds …………….£24m Arsenal …………..£23m Brentford ………...£23m BHA ……………..£17m Wolves ………….£12m Watford …………£10m Burnley …………£4m Everton …………£1m Southampton……£600k Newcastle ………£0 Norwich ………..-£1.5m West Ham ……..-£2.3m Spurs …………..-£3.5m Liverpool ……...-£7m Chelsea ………..-£30m Man City ……...-£38m As you can see this is going to change big time as Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs get stuck in.
Well tonight we will see yet another pre season match, which means we should get to see Bamford and Cooper, also Gelhardt, Rodrigo, Koch, Llorente and Ayling. We should also see how Junior and Harrison are linking up
I was a bit harsh in my opinion of Max Deans performance apparently according to the YEP. I agree he is only 17yo and playing against seasoned pros at Fleetwood. Yes true and I was missing the flair of Gelhardt and Greenwood. But the YEP have almost all the players marked as 6 except for Summerville 7, Cresswell 8. I look forward to seeing this team and the new additions compete in the top league of Prem2
On the Forshaw question the facts are that he has missed out on 2 full years of football. He had a 90min run out couple of games before the end of the season with the U23s. He didnt reappear again because he pulled a different muscle. He has come back this summer and by all accounts doing a normal pre season. He has played a half hour against Guisley and 45 minutes against Fleetwood. He has looked ok but to be frank not as good as Jack Jenkins and Lewis Bate who replaced him last night looked very good after a sticky start. How long does Bielsa give him
Contracted until June 2022 and the ironic thing is that we turned down bids for him in Jan 2019. The fact remains that at £4.5m he was the most expensive player we had bought for years and Bielsa was loving him when he arrived and saw him in training. Phil Hay said Bielsa was raving about him, because he saw him play 32 times in the 18/19 season. How do you come back after 2 years out with injury? He is also 29yo soon to be 30, but if he isnt going to make it can we be expected to just carry on paying his wages for another year and then release him. Nobody will buy him at this stage, but some would loan him I guess. Bielsa thinks that at his best of 2 years ago he is as good as many top CL midfielders? Could he save us £30m and be a Nahitan Nandez? Massive gamble
Until June 2022 according to transfermarkt.com, so he's in his last year Edit : Lol should have refreshed screen to see if Doc had posted, before typing my reply
Lunchtime kick off today down at Loughborough against Real Betis. Imagine Junior is going to enjoy that one as he was their best player before Barcelona bought him. Will we see Cooper and Bamford, will we see Gelhardt, will we see Ayling and will we see Koch as DM or Struijk. So pundits are saying Cooper will not be a starter this season?
Another weekend and yet again there are the same rehashed, boring stories: Leeds bid £30m club record for Adama Traore, or how about: Door opens for Bielsa to get his man Dan James. The best ones revolve around around 2 well known tv pundits who think Connor Gallagher will be the signing of the summer. Even when the world knows he signed for Palace yesterday. Cant wait for Pogba to be announced
Latest rumour doing the rounds is we're about to sign Allan Clarke for a club record fee of £165,000. Sounds like classic lazy journalism to me.
Adama and Dan James just keep circulating and like Forza said, it’s unbelievable lazy journalism. I will add though the Adama one is a bit different this time, it says we’ve had an initial £30m bid accepted. Very strange for a story to add that very important word “initial” it’s just a small bit of added detail you don’t usually find when making up a story and I find it strange that they’ve gone as far as “bid accepted”. True or False I think both Dan James or Adama would be an improvement over Harrison and throw in Raphinha and it’s a lovely 2 from 3. I’d imagine Dan James slotting in very quickly, I’d fear all the muscle Adama is carrying wouldn’t suit us, could he last 90 minutes, would he even get through a murder ball session? IF true are Wolves having our pants down for a third time or would it be third time lucky?
Must disagree with you there Ristac. There's no way either of those two are better than Harrison imo. Not even close.
Agreed, must admit, I had to read it again to believe he wrote that, non of them fit to tie Harrisons boot laces imo.
Pants round ankles for me, said it before he looks more like a Mr universe contender or a rich man's bodyguard, not a regular in the wolves team! Extremely disappointed if there is anything in this, wouldn't do the work jacko does for starters and his goals ratio isn't a deal breaker neither....
Don't know how to read the Forshaw situation has he been placed with the u23's to get plenty more match fitness and see how his injuries stand up. Or has he been sent there as Bielsa see's no place in his 1st team. as surely being a senior player he still should be around and mixing with it other than training. I thought he did okay last night a bit ring rusty but that's expected. I think if he's not back with the 1st team by the Ajax game 4th Aug he's currently out of Bielsa's plans for the time being. Let's be honest he has alot of work to do being out the game for 2 years and going then straight into the fittest side in the Premier League side is a ask in itself. Also Welcome to Leeds Kristoffer !
So Kriss Klaesson is our 6th signing this summer, so far. Harrison, Junior and Klaesson along with McGurk, Bate and Miller. 4 signings for the future and a very strong U23 squad. Now seen 2 official pre season games where the U23s are billed and advertised as Leeds Utd (Not Leeds U23s) so we are beginning to see the importance of Bielsa’s back up squad. We however have not seen anything of Huggins, Gotts, Hosannah, Stevens etc so we can assume they are history…. We will see a solid spine of quality running through the U23s this season with Klaesson/Caprile, Drameh, Cresswell, Kenneh, Jenkins, Miller, Bate, Summerville, Greenwood, Gelhardt, McGurk, Jenkins, Allen, McKinstry. Yes there are others but those named are different gravy and they need a left back option if Huggins is out of the picture
Not sure if this is the right place to put it but starting 11 for today. Wouldn't be surprised if this was the 11 who start the season apart from possibly Phillips but Phillips not involved in any pre season games yet so more training required for Bielsa's liking?
