Deadline; Leeds united will be indisposed of familiar triune

Leeds United will lock horns with multiple transfer rivals this summer that can offer Premier League football and hope their targets can be patient enough to see the big picture

Twelve months ago Leeds United were feeling the full weight of their relegation in the transfer market. That loss of Premier League status and its financial impact not only saw a slew of release clauses activated, but a cavalcade of agents banging on Angus Kinnear’s door for exits and a stack of English clubs with a sudden advantage in the market.

The loan clauses had taken matters out of United’s hands in one regard, but trying to find their replacements was arguably even more frustrating. Not much can be done about contractually enforced clauses, but wheeling and dealing on the open market brought about outcomes Kinnear, Paraag Marathe and Nick Hammond knew they could impact.

Sadly for them, top-flight football is a very challenging factor they could not compete with last summer. Nor this summer, for that matter. In 2023 it felt like United’s transfer fate was inextricably tied to the Bournemouths, Luton Towns, Nottingham Forests and Burnleys of this world.

Every club that had either narrowly avoided relegation or been promoted in 2023 seemed to have an interest in the players Leeds liked, or the United players that were trying to get out of Elland Road. It turns out it’s a small world across that Premier League-Championship divide.

Everton took Jack Harrison and had an interest in Rodrigo. Bournemouth took Tyler Adams and, eventually, Luis Sinisterra. The Cherries would, infamously, turn Max Aarons’s head at the 11th hour of his reunion with father figure Daniel Farke too.