Leeds United have ended the window without the attacking additions that Daniel Farke was crying out for throughout August, putting a dampener on what was an encouraging start to the summer.
Four points from three games is encouraging for Leeds to kickstart their top flight return, especially against two sides in the Champions League this season.
Going into the international break, though, Daniel Farke was adamant that the current squad would not be enough for him to be certain that Leeds can comfortably stay in the Premier League.
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Leeds United’s transfer window summary – 10 signings made, around £100m spent
The window started off in impressive fashion as Leeds built from the back with a strong base of physically imposing players such as Lukas Nmecha (free), Jaka Bijol (£15million), Anton Stach (£17million), and Sean Longstaff (£12million).
After addressing the goalkeeper, defence, and midfield concerns with shrewd business, the second half of the window was largely focused on sorting out the attack.
(REUTERS/Jaimi Joy)
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (free) and Noah Okafor (£18million) were the only two offensive signings made in the month of August, leaving Leeds and Farke noticeably short based on the manager’s own assessment:
Player Date signed Position Fee Contract length
Lukas Nmecha July 1 Striker Free 2027
Sebastiaan Bornauw July 1 Centre-back £5.1m 2029
Jaka Bijol July 1 Centre-back £15m 2030
Gabriel Gudmundsson July 8 Left-back £10m 2029
Sean Longstaff July 18 Central midfield £12m 2029
Anton Stach July 22 Central midfield £17.4m 2029
Lucas Perri July 26 Goalkeeper £15.6m 2029
Dominic Calvert-Lewin August 15 Striker Free 2028
Noah Okafor August 21 Left-winger £18m 2029
James Justin August 25 Right-back £8m 2029
Jeff Stelling and Ally McCoist dub Leeds United’s window worst in the Premier League
Everything has to be ranked nowadays, and talkSPORT duo Jeff Stelling and Ally McCoist were counting down the worst windows out of all 20 Premier League clubs.
Despite Leeds’ solid start to proceedings, the way they handled the second half of the window saw both in agreement that United’s was the worst out of all clubs in the top flight.
“I really do not know who is gonna score goals for them,” Stelling explained on talkSPORT (2/9). “I can’t get excited that they brought James Justin in. I can’t get excited that they brought Dominic Calvert-Lewin in. I can’t get excited that they brought Noah Okafor in, and so on and so forth.
“They needed, for me, a couple of strikers that you could sort of rely on to get goals. I mean, Calvert-Lewin, you can’t rely on his fitness. He’s definitely a player in there. Okafor, you know, didn’t pull up any trees for Milan, seven in 39. Didn’t pull up any trees in the Swiss national side as well. Nmecha, another one, not a prolific goal-scorer.
“That’s what worries me for Leeds United. I think Sean Longstaff will do a good job in the middle of the park. I’m pretty sure of that, but I worry for Leeds, simply worry for Leeds.”
To which McCoist found himself in total agreement with Stelling.
“Could not disagree, mate. I could not disagree,” McCoist responded. “You know, you’re looking at the newly promoted sides. And I think it’s fair to say more people would say Sunderland and Leeds have a slightly better opportunity than Burnley to stay up. That might not prove to be the case, right?
“But looking at it, particularly Sunderland with their movement in the window. Burnley obviously had a well-deserved and fantastic result against Sunderland home, so time will tell. But I take your point with Leeds. There’s nothing exciting at all. Scoring goals would be an absolute concern in that league, and you’ve got to score goals to stay in the league.
“And you look at Sunderland. We mentioned Sunderland, (Enzo) Le Fee, (Habib) Diarra. They’ve obviously lost Bellingham. They brought in (Noah) Sadiki, (Reinildo) Mandava and (Chemsedine) Talbi. You look at the players, Granit Xhaka. I mean, they’re having a go.
“And if you’re looking at it objectively, if you’re a Sunderland fan, you’ve got to be saying, ‘Well, we’ve got promoted. We really needed to strengthen, and we’ve done that.’ So it’s certainly from the board and the owners and the management, you can tell there’s a serious show of intent. I’m not sure – I’m agreeing with you, Jeff – I’m not sure Leeds have done that.”
Leeds United have been shown up by Sunderland this window
It’s incredibly harsh to say we’ve had the worst window of anyone in the division, because there’s still plenty to like about the signings we have made.
But it’s down there, and it’s alarming how much Farke has discussed the need for new attacking additions, only for the club to fumble around on various targets and end up with nothing after Okafor.
When you see Sunderland cashing in on Tommy Watson and Jobe Bellingham to springboard them into hugely ambitious spending, it begs the question of how Leeds could have possibly raised similar funds.
The scramble for loan deals late in the summer strongly suggest we hit our spending limit, but we all know this might not be enough for survival.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!