Simon Jordan has told Leeds United how much they’ll have to spend this summer if they want to stay in the Premier League.
Leeds United secured their long-awaited return to the Premier League on Easter Monday after smashing Stoke City 6-0 and Burnley defeating Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United.
The parties inside and outside of Elland Road were wild and when the hangovers finally clear, Leeds will have to get back up for the two remaining games as they compete with Burnley for the Championship title.
After that, attention will turn to preparing for Leeds’ first Premier League campaign since 2022 and a lot of improvement will be needed to the squad.
Now, Simon Jordan has predicted Leeds will need to spend at least around £50-60m if they want to have a real chance of survival.
Leeds United must spend at least £50m in the summer says Simon Jordan
Farke has three promotions to the Premier League but doesn’t have a good record in the competition, having won just six matches out of 49 at Norwich City.
The manager went straight back down in his first season in the first division and was sacked 11 games into his second after guiding the Canaries back up as Champions.
However, Jordan has defended Farke’s record by insisting Norwich didn’t back him enough in the transfer market and Leeds must do the opposite to give him a fighting chance.
Jordan said on TalkSport: “So if you’re Norwich and you spend £9m when you get promoted, they spent £9m in the 19-20 season, so they got relegated.
“They got relegated when it took 35 points to stay up and now it takes 26 apparently. The next time they went up they spent £45m and finished bottom of the league in a season that takes 38 points to stay up.
“What are you going to do with £9m? If you’re going to give a manager £9m to go in the Premier League, you may as well give nothing.
“What are you going to do with £30m in the Premier League when you’ve got people spending hundreds of millions of pounds and they’ve established Premier League squads.
“I would think that a reasonable amount of money to be spending when you get promoted to the Premier League is somewhere in the region on transfer fees of 50-60% of the total amount of money you’re going to get for being in the Premier League.
“Which is round about £120m, so if you go and spend £50-60m, you give yourself half a chance of a puncher’s chance of staying in the division.”
Farke has already made it clear he wants new players at Leeds
The champagne hadn’t dried in his hair before Farke was already making it obvious he wants to be backed in the summer transfer market.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Farke admitted he did want new signings in January after all, despite maintaining he was satisfied with his squad.
Additionally, the manager also made it clear that the 49ers need to show ‘ambition’ in the transfer window.
The early signs are promising. A £100m masterplan with Kalvin Phillips coming in has already been touted and Tottenham’s asking price for Manor Solomon has been put at £15m-20m.
However, it’ll take much more than that if Leeds want to stay up, with a new goalkeeper, playmaker, striker and midfielder needed at the very least.
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