The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Fri 7th Aug)

Good Morning. It's Friday 7th August, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road

Season ticket waiting list will be open to the public from 9am this morning

With sixteen years of hurt finally behind us, Leeds fans can finally enjoy top flight football again, but number are limited! Gold Members from last season have already had a week to renew their season ticket, but today the general public can pay £10 per person to join the waiting list in order to be able to purchase a season ticket in the future, should they become available.

The season ticket waiting list has previously been open exclusively to 2019/20 Gold Members. The new 2020-21 Premier League season will begin over the weekend of September 12.

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Bielsa planning £20m swoop for Stuttgart striker Nicolas Gonzalez.

The Mirror are reporting (so it must be true) that Argentine international Nicolas Gonzalez could be on his way to Elland Road. The 22yo forward is rated as one of the hottest young talents around having netted 14 goals in 27 appearance for Stuttgart, helping them gain automatic promotion back to the Bundesliga last term.

Stuttgart signed Gonzalez from Argentinos Jrs in the Summer of 2018 for 7.65m, but will be looking to make a healthy profit knowing Borussia Dortmund, Inter, AC Milan, Roma, Lazio and Napoli, are all monitoring the situation.

The lure of working with Bielsa in the Premier League has made Leeds the favourites to snap him up. The 65yo has been tracking Gonzalez since January!

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Drameh wanting ER switch

Fulham's highly rated teenage defender Cody Drameh is the latest young talent to be linked to a move to Elland Road. The Whites have been tracking the 18-year-old for a number of years and is very much on their hit list this Summer.

The right-back, in the last year of his contract, is wanting a moving to Elland Road according to Sky Sports reporter Kaveh Solhekol.

Drameh is reportedly valued at around £400,000 but the Telegraph report that the Cottagers would want a sell-on clause in the deal.

The Whites have already landed 16yo attacking midfielder Charlie Allen from Linfield, and are confident that Wigan Athletic's 18-year-old forward Joe Gelhardt will follow early next week.

If they can land Drameh as well, then the future is bright for the Leeds Utd academy!

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Morning all...

Just been replying to Eric on yesterday’s thread, I posted a video clip of Gonzalez, he looks more of a wide player, silky skills and great pace but he missed more than he scored. Eric commented are we after this guy as a striker or another wide player, even replacement for Pablo?

What concerns me is how much of a say Bielsa has on signings or did he have in January? I’ve just been reading up on Augustin. If we are forced to sign him it won’t affect this seasons transfer budget (good news) but if we have to pay the fee Bielsa doesn’t want him at ER

Bielsa does not want him and has said he has no plans for him... This begs the question how much did Bielsa know about him or have a say in the first place? Did we sanction the loan with a commit to buy without Bielsas blessing? Is this why we’re still waiting for the new contract to be signed? Is Bielsa annoyed at the dross attempts to get him a striker he is happy with?

Watkins is valued in excess of £25m with no get out clause according to Brentford, is that too huge a gamble? I’m on the fence with that one, my head says leave alone, I then have visions of him banging in 20+ goals for someone like Villa next season thinking “if only”.

 

Good Morning To Matt Rik Doc and co from a sunny Bardsey
I prefer Bats for us what a player how can he not get above Abraham
Gonzalas one footed can't head a ball not for me .he is not a striker more a winger with a left foot and pace
Looking forwrad to signing Gelthart and Allen and Drameth
Ollie Watkins bottle went at the end so question mark and Beramas over their bottle

 

Morning All.

Matt you're just taking the pee with the thread titles aren't you?

 

Morning all

 

Did you spot the deliberate mistake?

 

You missed the accent from both of the "a" in Nicolás González ?

 

Morning all

just to sort out the relationship between Bielsa and Orta for ristac. Bielsa wanted a striker who had all the attributes of Bamford but eeded to be faster and score more goals or take more of the chances. He wanted Che Adams because Bielsa saw him as being the best available in England with English experience. Is top choice was Big Kev because he had it all except Championship experience. Hey persisted with Adams until it obvious and then went to JKA. Big Kev couldn't get up to pace and Bielsa was angry with him not Orta.

The Watkins situation is that his first deal had a £10m buy out clause and his new deal had an £18m buy out clause but the player or club need to action it and so far it hasnt. Even if it has it means a bidding war which starts at £18m but clubs could offer more, but the player could choose to go to a club that had offered the £18m if he triggers it. Brentford will want to milk it. Watkins didnt look like an £18m player the other night did he.

Bielsa still hasn't signed his new deal yet so thinking that Orta is jetting about trying to sign a player Bielsa doesn't want is a silly statement. Bielsa is waiting to see that his wish list is at least being attempted and if Bielsa likes Nicolas Gonzalez so should we all. Putting a video clip together for a player without much history is tough and they shouldn't have tried to get 7mins out of it. What I saw was Bamford with more pace, tackling back in his own half and even his own box. Pacey attack play, direct and hoping his team mates could keep up with him. If you read reports from Argentina you start to see why he was picked 3 times last year for the full Argentina side along with Aguero, Messi and Co. Mario Kempes is the player he is compared to, so maybe Bielsa sees him being able to do what Bamford does but better.

Saw something yesterday that said Leeds had been linked to 40 Argentine players and over 100 players in total. So as nobody knows whats happening we can only have a clue when a club reports contact or a player says he wants to come. We’re all in the dark but know Orta flew somewhere yesterday. We know Norwich and Leeds have spoken about Buendia, we know Leeds have spoken about Watkins, even Adams again, we know we need at least one CB..... going to be a lot more of this especially from the National press and the idiots on Talk Sport and Sky Sports

 

Surely it's in Watkins interest to activate the clause as he potentially has more bidders to choose from and is in a position to negotiate a bigger wage. For example, I can't see why Leeds would pay £25mil when he could activate the clause, buy him for £18 mil and offer him an extra £3 mil in wages.

 

tommo you make a good point but must remember that Leeds or anyone else cannot talk to Watkins without Brentford agreeing. If Watkins triggers the buy out clause then he has officially handed in a transfer request and he would get nothing from the sale. So the long game is played out by the players club and a stage later he would get involved and maybe a dodgy deal could be agreed?

 

Todays media target for Leeds is Harry Wilson for £15m. I see no point in spending £15m on young Wilson unless he plays 10 as well as wing

The other player mentioned is still NicolasGonzalez with Bielsa saying Nicolas would take the league by storm. Who heard him say that?

 

I've always felt that Bielsa is in charge of who comes into his squad. He's a manager who has really high standards and I simply cannot see him accepting dross that Orta would foist upon him.

 

It's great fun talking about potential signings but I do hope we get someone in soon!

 

That interview gives you an insight into what Orta does and how long his team track targets. Ben White was an 18 month piece of work and any player he takes to Bielsa can be quickly knocked back. Bielsa aks Orta for a particular type of player Orta goes through the database and then finds someone with the attributes Bielsa wants and then he goes to watch and video and then Bielsa will say yes or no usually no.

Phil Hay said this morning that Orta took the blame for the likes of Ideguchi, LDB, Grot etc, but that wasn't fair as he was told how much money he had and to spread it thin to get quantity not quality as they needed a lot of kids for the academy and needed bodies. So he did as asked and his instructions were from a committee from above which was Radz and Bravo. Orta is now in full control with a massive network and huge database of players from all around the world. Bielsa drives the Orta operation and he and Orta are in charge and any requests are rubber stamped by Kinnear and Radz never no arguments. They are working on a 5 year plan to develop the club for the future, and now in year 3 of that plan.

any players coming in will be predominantly top Championship or prem players unless silly money asked for and then they will have no fear to bring in overseas players with more realistic price tag. Ben White is a priority, Benrahma and maybe Watkins but silly money may dictate something else.

 

I get where you are coming from mate but the system is broken if Bielsa can say yes to Augustin, agree that it will cost us £18m if/when we were promoted then say I’m not happy with him in training he has no future. That’s £18m down the pan, we can’t afford that kind of error.

 

Bielsa based his decision on his own knowledge of Big Kev, as he had been watching him from the time of his breakthrough at PSG when he was deemed as much better than his team mate Mbape. He told Orta about him and Orta had data on him and it went from there. Big Kev not being able to get up to speed meant he was faulty goods at that time, so Bielsa was angry. big Kev passed his medical no problem but he pulled a hammy and whilst getting fit again pulled it again. Yes it could be seen as a mistake if we end up paying, but no chance of that so will go down as a bad experience and why Bielsa shouldnt ever deal in a January transfer window. Even fully fit players will struggle to get up to speed in January and be a waste of money. We wasted a big loan fee and his wages

 

Brighton value Ben White at £30m - Seriously how can they justify that price tag after one season of Championship football

 

Walk away from White. He probably won't get a game. Might be cheaper in January if he gets pissed off!

 

Great on the ball, not great in the air, not worth £30 million, better value elsewhere I'm afraid.