Squad Options & Transfers for 20/21 Season

Apparently, writing in the Mirror, Stan Collymore is giving advice to Bielsa

 

That's Radz though. Orta scouts, Bielsa picks which players he wants to sign based on the options Orta presents. The club are not going to sign players on wages of £150k+ p/w. Not only does it make no financial sense (especially on an ageing, albeit talented, player with no resale value), but it goes against everything Bielsa and the squad stand for. Why risk the brilliant harmony in the squad by bringing in one player on five times more than the rest?

Suspect it's just a marketing ploy to sell season tickets or just remind agents of the fact we're back.

 

I thought every available season ticket had been sold.

 

The cardboard crowdies look to fill the place, can't see fans being let back anytime soon.
How a club can do a budget must be very difficult.
I read today Cavani is off to Benfica.
Atletico de Madrid were going to sign him but pulled out because of the wages!

 

Eze, Benrahama, Watkins and Mitrovic are the best Championship players available and all are Bielsa type players and we know 2 of them so far will not be in the Prem next season?

Cavani would sell many more shirts in South America than Beckham did and remember Beckhams wages in Italy, Spain and USA were paid for out of shirt sales. Radz is a sports marketing millionaire and why he mentioned Cavani and Zlatan. I have heard that Cavani is a firm fav of Bielsa whereas Zlatan is a disrupter. Would love Cavani to be true though and even at 33 and scoring 200 goals for his last club in a team with Mbepe and Brazilian playboy, you have to be special. Cavani has turned down Benfica and his brother who is his agent has said they want to talk to Bielsa for deciding on Spain, Portugal, Italy or anywhere else?

The most mouthwatering rumour is 19yo Almeida from Bielsa’s former club Velez Sarsfield. The kid is wanted by Barcelona, Madrid, Man City, Man Utd and several top Italian clubs and even so young has a £20m buy out. Its reported in Spanish and Argentinian press that the only English football he has watched in Leeds Utd because the play is like watching beauty and reminds him of his former boss Gabriel Heinze’s style of play and we know Heinze is a Bielsa old boy and fanboy, so who knows but if you get chance get the horn watching clips of this kid as he is known as the new Messi for a reason

 

Lots of reports of Eze coming to Leeds. Him and Pablo sharing the playmaker role would guarantee chances at any level.

I'm not sure Mitrovic would work under Bielsa. Does he have the work ethic required?

Do we need 2 centre halves? One in for White and the other for Berardi? Will Struijk step in to Berra's position in the squad?

 

So many questions and so little time. I'm sure I read somewhere that the new Premier season, that sounds good, is due to start Sat 12th Sept, which is

 

My thoughts exactly, Mitrovic was awful against us, his head dropped, zero work rate off the ball, no good for us under Bielsa.

Struijk has been the best I’ve seen filling Phillips boots and at 6’ 3” I’d put him straight into a back four, Bielsa loves the one player two positions philosophy and Struijk is surely the answer to White?

 

Yep, I read a three week mini break for players, we need the new faces in before they report back otherwise Bielsa will not consider them ready for at least 12 weeks

 

I thought the same as you regarding Mitrovic but I read a piece from Phil Hay that looked at striker stats which covered all areas of what Bielsa wants and why he loves Bamford. The ideal candidate being Bamford with goals. Big Kev had better stats than Bamford and Mitrovic was the surprise winner based upon having 58% strike rate to Bamfords 44%, but Mitrovic being a bully and handfull and can track back. Phil never said if Bielsa had a view on Mitrovic though. Hay did say though that Leeds would look at top end Championship players?

 

Are there going to be any pre-season friendly matches?

 

I know Mitrovic scores goals, but he is a moaning, whinger and personally I wouldn't like to see him at ER. Cavani would suit us and I like his work ethic and eye for goal.

 

Bravo is a brilliant keeper and a couple of hundred International caps, and a great replacement for Kiko who will help bring Meslier on? foyth has spoken about for over a year now but seems like hes on his way out of Spurs and is a baller that Pochetino took to Spurs. Almada is the kid I mentioned earlier an ideal replacement for Pablo or anyone in the middle except DM





“According to AlAireLibre, Premier League winner Claudio Bravo and Spurs outcast Juan Foyth are two names linked with a switch to Elland Road, but more interestingly, Velez wonderkid Thiago Almada is mentioned too.”

 

Also posted this in today’s breakfast thread however it’s probably more suited in this thread.

Looking forward to seeing what sort of signings we make. Good to see we’ve got Harrison, Costa and Meslier signed up. Hoping Berardi gets his new contract, would be harsh after everything he’s done for us and after his injury if he didn’t get one. Looking at everything Phil Hay has said about signings I think we’ll be making 5 or 6 and it looks like we’ll be after a GK, CB, LB, CM/CAM, WINGER & ST. Apparently Bielsa likes the look of Gunn and Martinez which will mean shipping out Kiko. CB will be White if we can get him or that CB that plays for River Plate, Cooper will be the other CB and I think we may need a Berardi back up considering he’ll be out for 9 months and I think he’ll put his trust in Casey for the other backup CB. LB we were supposedly looking at was a youngster from Liverpool which means we’ll ship out Douglas, it remains to be seen if Davis is in Bielsa’s plans as we’ve not really seen him. CDM back up will be Struijk after his performances in the last 3 games, looks like he’s going to be some player. CM/CAM will be Eze or Swift as a playmaker to hopefully take some pressure off of Hernandez so he can be used off the bench next season. WINGER Bielsa likes his wingers and I think he’ll want someone else that will bring more goals and assists to the team, I think the main targets in this area will be Benrahma if Brentford don’t go up and Buendia. ST I believe Bamford will start in the PL and I think he deserves it for all the work he puts in and I’ve heard rumours of Gaich from River Plate and the youngster from Wigan. All young players that would fit our system and if we could get a few of these through the doorthat would be a good summer.

 

Players who are in my opinion not really Prem standard are Alioski, Douglas, Roberts. Left back still causing a problem with neither Alioski or Douglas doing the biz and Dallas having to take over? Leif Davies was supposed to be the dogz wonder if he will take over as was also on the bench the last 3 games? Roberts is too hot and cold. Not a No10 and not as good as Bamford as striker

 

Sergio Romero who has been capped 96 times for Argentina wants to leave Man Utd and rumoured to have contacted his old boss Bielsa. Now he is a top keeper who can bring on Meslier

 

Of course, we are all talking about players here.

My priority signing is obviously Bielsa and his staff. Pay him whatever he wants, do what ever is required to keep that man in Leeds for the next 5 years at least.

 

Given the current world wide situation with covid-19 I'm not sure it's wise to be signing players on big wages and/or fees.

Let's continue to develop the youth and if they're not good enough then so be it. We already have a decent squad and just need to fill a few gaps left by Eddie/Kev or Ben White.

Meslier, Struijk, Shackleton, Gotts, Stevens, Davis, Casey are all ready to play and I'm sure they'll be given oportunities. The other one from the academy to watch out for apparently is Charlie Cresswell, who's impressing many and great things are forcast for him.

 

Agree with this, think if we’re looking at another LB Bielsa might think Davies isn’t good enough. Douglas and Roberts will be out of their depth in the PL. Douglas looks a good LB but Bielsa likes a player that can play multiple positions and can change with the tactics as the game goes on. Dallas is probably seen as first choice LB and RB back up after such a good season. Not sure Roberts brings much to the team and isn’t a Hernandez replacement. However Alioski will be a good player to have on the bench in the PL, he’s looked good as a sub in the last few games and has a lot of energy and his work rate is really good.

 

Think Jammy's comments on post CV-19 is accurate because the 'New Normal' may only be 40% of crowds allowed back in which means a huge fall in revenues for EFL clubs. Maybe time the 4, 5 and 6 year contracts are wound down. Player valuations must fall too as value for money falls Jadon Sancho valued at £110m will be sold for around £80m max