Leeds United have made four new signings and waved goodbye to five players who played a key role in Daniel Farke’s senior squad last season – but their most important deal is now complete.
Junior Firpo and Josuha Guilavogui have left on free transfers, Manor Solomon and Joe Rothwell’s loans came to an end and Max Wober has left the club on loan for a second time since arriving in January 2023.
Gabriel Gudmundsson replaces Firpo, Sebastiaan Bornauw has come in for Wober and Leeds have also added Jaka Bijol and Lukas Nmecha. Sam Byram has been rewarded with a one-year contract extension.
A busy start to the summer for a side that are expected to do a whole lot more over the next few weeks. Now, Leeds have announced arguably their biggest deal of the summer, in tying down winger Dan James.
Leeds confirm four-year deal for Dan James on Monday
The start of the week brought Leeds fans some optimism on Monday. The hope that Leeds may pull off a Nmecha-like signing, a deal that had not been leaked to the media and is announced out of the blue.
While no new signings arrived by the close of play on Monday, Leeds did announce some news. It was that Leeds’ 2024-25 Player of the Season, James, had finally put pen to paper on a four-year deal.
Daniel Farke has been desperate to keep James, after a stunning 2024-25 in which he had a hand in 21 goals. Arguably, getting James to sign on was the most important deal the club could do this summer.
Luke Ayling and Karl Darlow react to Dan James’ new deal
There are two financial reasons why getting James tied down to a new deal is important. The first, it sees Leeds protect their asset. James was in the final year of his contract and Everton had been linked.
But secondly, player amortisation. Signing for £25m in 2021, James signed a contract until June 2026. In the eyes of PSR, that means £5m over five years. Now, that remaining £5m can be split over four years.
It means James’ amortisation cost is now only £1.25m this season, freeing up almost £4m and giving Leeds more leg room to spend. A crucial deal not only on the pitch, but off of it too for the Whites.
Luke Ayling reacted to Leeds’ post by saying James “fully deserved” his new contract while Leeds and Wales teammate Karl Darlow commented a heart eyes emoji. Now, James can concentrate on the pitch.
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