Leeds United are finally starting to reap the rewards of their summer transfer window.
The Whites left it late to complete the bulk of their important business and so only in the last few matches have some of those signings started to make an impact.
Aside from Joe Rodon and Jayden Bogle, each of Leeds’ eight additions have had to be patient one way or another.
Largie Ramazani, Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell have all come into the team only recently, with the former impressing with two goals and an assist in four starts.
Tanaka has also been praised by the likes of Tony Dorigo for his performances, while Rothwell enjoyed a strong full league debut at Sunderland.
Leeds’ three other signings Isaac Schmidt, Alex Cairns and Manor Solomon have not played much, though the latter’s lack of game time is only due to injury. Solomon had looked a cut above on his debut against Hull City.
How close Leeds came to signing Roland Sallai
Despite it looking like Leeds’ window can be regarded as a success, there are always ones clubs feel they missed out on.
Daniel Farke was frustrated at Leeds’ failure to add another number 10 and one of the options they were pursuing towards the latter stages of the window was Roland Sallai.
Leeds were in talks with Freiburg over a permanent deal for the Hungarian international, but unfortunately, a move never materialised.
Sallai instead ended up joining Turkish side Galatasaray, and speaking exclusively to LeedsUnited.News, transfer expert Graeme Bailey says he is one Leeds were disappointed not to get over the line, as they ‘thought they had him’.
He said: “There are ones that got away, clearly. Roland Sallai, the Hungarian. They thought they had him so I think that was a bit of a blow for them. They thought they had him and there was a belief he could make a big impact in England, so that was a blow to them.
“He is a good player and at this level, I think he would’ve made an impact to be fair. He’s one they look back on where they will be really disappointed because they really thought they had him, and was coming in. He’s since moved onto Turkey so that’s one they were really disappointed by.”
Patrick Bamford verdict on Leeds transfer business
With the second international break now here, it is around the time of the season where the table starts to take shape.
Leeds currently sit fifth in the Championship and after missing out narrowly last year, look as though they could be serious promotion contenders once again, despite the players who left.
Striker Patrick Bamford believes Leeds replaced those that departed well in the summer, which is why he always felt they would have a great chance to go one better this term.
He said: “We went down the play-off route and lost in the final, which kind of, at the time was a strange one. We knew next year, being this year, we have another great chance to do it again, but we also knew at that point it was more than likely we were going to lose a lot of our best players.
“Starting the season was a little bit uncertain, probably not as much as the season before, but still a little bit with who was going to be here and who wasn’t. The squad got sorted out pretty early on and the players that we lost, we replaced. I think we’ve actually brought in some really good players.”
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