David Prutton has warned Leeds United that keeping their key players in January will not be as simple as they expect.
Leeds are hopeful of a quiet window next month following the hectic nature of the summer, with Phil Hay reporting on Friday that the main priority will be keeping what they already have.
Daniel Farke has also suggested that Leeds are unlikely to be particularly busy but that may change if Premier League clubs begin to test the club’s resolve regarding some of their best players.
Writing in his latest column for the Yorkshire Evening Post, Prutton believes that Leeds cannot be ‘naive’ in thinking that players would turn down Premier League interest just because they are in the race for automatic promotion.
He said “Every club is a selling club and every player has got his price. So let’s not be naive to think that a player who is in that team who could be part of a promotion-winning side with Leeds would for one second block a move to the Premier League because of the potential of that.
“That’s the kind of brutal truth of it. It would be trading an actual thing for the potential of an actual thing so let’s not kid ourselves with that and we saw in the summer that various players quite obviously didn’t want to be there and got their wish.”
Leeds must keep their key players
From Leeds’ squad, the most likely to be attracting any interest is Crysencio Summerville, who has been on fire this season with eight goals and six assists already.
Leeds actually turned down an offer of £20 million from Burnley late on in the summer and given his performances since then, interest is only going to increase. That said, so is the price.
Fabrizio Romano has already reported that Premier League clubs have been monitoring his progress, while Sky Sports pundit Tom Cairney thinks Leeds may also find it tough to keep hold of him.
However, with the position Leeds are likely to be in, they simply cannot afford to let any of their key players depart regardless of the offers they receive, if they have genuine ambition of achieving promotion.
The money that being in the Premier League generates is worth more than any quick sale in January and hopefully the club realise that too.
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