Leeds United striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin turned down a Champions League contract on the day he signed at Elland Road, according to the club’s managing director Robbie Evans.
Calvert-Lewin became Leeds’ number 9 this summer, signing as a free agent after departing Everton. Despite his injury record, Evans says everyone at Elland Road was completely aligned in their enthusiasm to get the forward through the door. And in a sit down with the local media less than 24 hours after the transfer deadline, Evans revealed that Calvert-Lewin had rejected an offer from a Champions League club on the day he joined Leeds.
Evans was quizzed on why the club failed to get a deadline day deal for Fulham’s Harry Wilson over the line, Leeds’ Profitability and Sustainability position, unfavourable comparisons with Sunderland’s aggressive spending and concerns over striker injuries and a lack of goals in the team. This is part two.
Survival difficulty
"Daniel said at the weekend that without further additions, it would be difficult to survive. Is he still of that opinion? And what's his response to the way the window finished?"
Robbie Evans, Leeds MD: "Well, it's difficult either way, it's certainly a little more difficult without more attackers, and we all understand that. We talked last night. He also spoke with Adam. He had the same view that we did, in that we would have liked it but we have a great squad. Did tons of work early. We're averaging two points a game at home, and we'll go with the guys we have."
"Do you have a concern internally about the number of goals you could score this season? Do you think you have enough goals in the team stay up?"
RE:"I do think we have enough firepower to stay up, but it's always a concern, like every promoted side has that concern of scoring. At the same time, the goals you allow are just as important. And so for us, it's always a trade off of adding defensive firepower versus offensive firepower and getting the balance right. And so I do think that our strategy this summer was balanced towards both those things, and in so much as the goal is to win 10 games, whatever it is, I think we're capable of winning them."
Strikers and injury risk
"In terms of strikers, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha at their best England international, Germany international, lots of Premier League experience for Dominic but the big question will be the injury records. They've both played very, very little football. Lukas has played less than Patrick Bamford over the last four years. So what would you sell to say to fans to reassure them that you're confident you're not going to lose these two players to several weeks at a time?"
RE:"So first of all, we're well aware of the risk, and it was a key consideration in acquiring them. Secondly, we have tremendous faith in our medical team, and that's evidenced by the success of recent years with Junior Firpo, Sam Byram, Manor Solomon, and further capital investments this year in keeping players healthy at Thorp Arch.
"When you acquire any player you know you're making a sacrifice somewhere as far as their age, their experiences, their ceiling, their character, their injury history, something is not going to be perfect unless they are the highly expensive perfect player for us. Given our experience with our medical team, given the prior sort of success with Junior and Sam and Manor in particular, on players like Dom and Lukas, we'd rather take somebody that's got the experience, the physicality, the profile, the goal record, the character, and bet on ourselves to keep them healthy, then take somebody who doesn't have that ceiling, and that's also why we made sure that we have some extra options available. So we have our Golden Boot winner Joel, and then actually Noah [Okafor] has had time at striker, including Champions League for Salzburg. And so you bet on yourself, but also you make backup plans. And so you feel comfortable with the risk of striker given that you're making some concessions somewhere, and in that position, we made it on injury risk."
"Rodrigo Muniz was the number one target, and it seemed to change quite quickly. And obviously you've got Dominic Calvert-Lewin in now. Can you just take us through that from your point of view?"
RE:"Yeah, the striker evolution for us this summer was really exciting. And interesting. Early in the window, Rodrigo was our target because we were told he might be available to us. At that same time, we had asked on Dominic Calvert-Lewin and been told in no uncertain terms you cannot get that guy, he's going to a big club in Europe or a big club in England. So on our list, at that point in time of the profile we're looking for, which is a certain combination of experience, size, speed, goals, character and the right age profile, Rodrigo was the obvious first place to look.
"As it became clearer and clearer that he would not be available to us, not just at the price we had expected, but also possibly not at all, right as we were getting the signals that, you know, the Muniz deal is probably not feasible, we had a glimmer of hope that Dominic Calvert-Lewin could be achievable, because the interest that he thought would materialise early summer had not fully happened yet. We moved very quickly to get in front of Dom, his agent, his family, and pitched the club, the project, and in less than a week from getting that sort of indicator, he was here in the building, signing his contract.
"I understand from the outside that was viewed at times as being rushed, or the phrase 'panic move' came up. I view it in the exact opposite way, which was we knew all along what our profile was. We knew all along who we liked and didn't like. And the second one guy began to turn off, and one guy turned on, we could snap into action and go and get him. So to me, that was an example of rapid response, not as some kind of panic or rushed action. And so we're very proud of the way we went and got Dom, who, by the way, turned down a Champions League contract the day we signed him, and we're thrilled that he's here.
"And from a sporting perspective, that was a shared view from the manager, from the head of recruitment, from the sporting director that of all the options that were even plausibly available to us, nobody was a better fit to the objective of staying up this season than Dominic was, and so he was the guy across all three of those groups. And so we went and got him with speed."
Relegation clauses
"Did you manage to avoid relegation release clauses in the players you brought in? We know that was the big mill around the club's neck after the last relegation. Did you manage to avoid that with all the players you brought in and the concessions you made?"
RE: "So every player's contract is different. I can say categorically we do not have any relegation loan clauses, which I found to be by far the most catastrophic, you lose a player for nothing. Some players have relegation sale clauses. All of them are at a price at or above, normally well above, the price we paid for them, and many of them don't. And so it's a person-to-person basis, based on their leverage. But I'm pretty confident that, to a man, any player that comes down, either we'll be in control of their sale or not, or if they're sold, I'm comfortable with the return they'll have generated to make it worth our while to have them."
The loan market
"Facundo Buonanotte was a very important target last week, taken from you at the last minute. With Premier League loans, at least from the outside, it seems it might be a bit easier to do or more straightforward to do than a permanent deal. So with the two spots available, was there a temptation to go and get somebody 'easier' later in the window? The point is it's obvious you haven't brought in any loan signings, what's the logic behind that?"
RE:"The Premier League loans are a market we looked at very closely. There's not that many players who are being looked at to be lent out by their current teams that fit what we needed and fit the profile of player we're looking for, somebody who can come in and contribute. You'll notice our team is largely mid-20s, experienced professionals that come in and play on day one. So it's pretty rare that somebody's youth movement player would be useful for us. And people don't like to lend out players to be depth. So taking a player to be a backup midfielder is not going to work for that player or for the lending club. So the market for PL loans to us that would come in and play for us is pretty thin. Facundo is a relatively rare instance of a young player who is, we think, starting caliber, or at least rotation caliber for our squad. Hence him being on the list.
"I would also note that an experienced loan player in PL tends to not be a whole lot cheaper than buying someone. And so there's a perception of loans as being like another sort of category of free player. But loan fee, agent fee, wage coverage, pretty soon you're looking at a similar number to a permanent for a player who is not yours. So you're developing somebody who's not going to return on investment for you, and who is not going to live and die to fight off relegation because they know at the end of the day they're just going to go back home. And so for us, to be a loan player from the Prem, they had to have a handful of key characteristics, of which only a few names even made that list."
Exits that did and didn’t happen
"Illan Meslier - there was talk that teams were interested in him towards the end of the window. What happened with him? What will happen with him?"
RE:"There was some interest in Illan, but it wasn't as strong as I'd expect for a player of his caliber. I know that he obviously lost his spot late last season because the team did a change, but he's a good player, young player, lots of experience, and frankly, he didn't want to go to a situation he didn't want to be in. And so it ended up being the case that for both parties, it was better that he be here."
"Mateo Joseph didn't come out to Germany for the preseason tour and asked for a move away. What are your thoughts on that situation? Obviously, he's gone out on loan. Now is there a future for him beyond that loan at Leeds?"
RE: "We think very highly of Mateo. He has all the same characteristics of the right profile, skill set, et cetera, to play at any league in Europe, including in the Premier League. He needs the minutes. And part of why his loan took as long as it did, is that every team that was trying to take him on loan was requiring buy option for the same reason, and we simply said there's no way you're getting an option on this player. The only way Mateo was going on loan is if the door is open for us to have him back in this building. And so he's on a season long loan, no buy option. And our hope is he has a phenomenal season in Mallorca and comes back. He's a favourite of the club, he's a favourite of the chairman, and so we hope he does great."
"And on Largie Ramazani and that decision?"
RE: "Same story for Largie. Largie and Mateo, are both wildly talented players who need the minutes, and Largie also has no buy option, because we insisted we have the option to bring him back to the club. So again, Largie was not getting the minutes he needed last season. This year, we've added Jack [Harrison] and Noah Okafor so for him to get the minutes he needs, he's better off playing in Spain, and he's being coached by someone that we know and trust, and we hope that's good for him, and that his future is open here, if that's the right thing for him and for the club."
"You reached the decision to end Patrick Bamford's contract early. What was the thinking behind that?"
RE:"So Daniel made clear early in camp that Pat was not in his primary plans for the squad as far as the depth chart for strikers, and at that point, it felt fairest to Pat and to the club that he be let free to go and find his next stop on his own. And so we worked to get a mutual termination done that allows him that freedom. We love Pat, club legend, helped us get promoted twice, but at that point in time it was the fairest thing for everyone involved to give him the freedom to go and find his next gig on his own."
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