Leeds United will need to have a big season at Elland Road as we don’t see them keeping Marcelo Bielsa for another year if they miss out on Premier League promotion. The club recently did some good business in the transfer market by bringing in the likes of Ben White, Helder Costa and Jack Harrison again.
With that, the club’s Director of Football Victor Orta believes that his United have completed 90% of the deals. He recently told Leeds Live, ”We are always open in the market, but now we are [at] 90 per cent of the [squad we want]. It’s always a decision of the club. We are in a situation that all of the decisions are totally co-ordinated between all the people within the club: board, director of football, head coach.”
We feel that Orta and the club might be making a mistake here if they think that they are done with most of their signing. Here are the positions where we believe that the club still needs reinforcements.
Centre back
The departure of Pontus Jansson came all of a sudden and the Whites should look to replace him with an established and proven centre back at this level. The club signed Ben White on loan from Brighton, but he hardly has any experience of playing at a tough level. The highest he has played is at League One club Peterborough where he made 15 appearances last season. The defender has appeared for Brighton but only in cup competitions.
Therefore a team challenging for a Premier League promotion cannot just rely on two senior centre backs and White who hasn’t been tested yet. United will be really playing with fire if they don’t sign a new centre back, especially seeing their injury track record in the past year.
Striker
United failed to move to the Premier League even though they played one of the best brands of football last season. One of the reasons for that was they were unable to convert their domination and possession into goals. No one at the clubs seems likely to get 20-25 odd goals which are often necessary to move up a division. The club should at least seek a loan deal for a top striker this summer.
Two bonus positions (Signings which will be useful but not a necessity)
Goalkeeper– Kiko Casilla cost the Whites in the biggest of the games last season with his eccentric decision making and lack of communication. He has the overall capability to thrive at this level, but we are a bit sceptical after his performances. Getting an upgrade over him will be tough given the fact that the Spaniard is comfortable on the ball, and that seems to be very important for Bielsa. However, if possible, the Whites can look at someone to replace Casilla.
Left-winger
The club is still reportedly interested in Ryan Kent who will be a substantial addition to the squad. Jack Harrison is likely to continue to frustrate with his final product this season as well, and Jack Clarke is still too young to be relied upon entirely for a team looking to move to the top flight.
