What Angus Kinnear said about Manor Solomon after he signed for Leeds United is starting to look incorrect

Add as preferred source on Google

With a third of the Championship season played the league table is taking shape and early-season trends are giving way to more lasting assessments, especially when it comes to summer signings.

Leeds United had a busy summer transfer window, bringing in eight new players, while a host of last season’s key performers, including Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter all secured big-money moves to the Premier League.

That trio made 141 league and play-off appearances between them last season as Leeds came up just short of their goal of winning promotion back to the Premier League, so everyone at the club knew replacing them effectively this summer was vital if they were to launch another promotion push this season.

Leeds went into the international break third in the table, just two points off top place and very much in the mix for an automatic promotion place, indicating that the club’s summer recruitment has been effective.

Angus Kinnear’s transfer window grade

Speaking shortly after the transfer window closed, Leeds chief executive Angus Kinnear graded the club’s transfer window when talking to The Square Ball.

“I’d probably give us a B+ if I were to grade the window in terms of what we wanted to do,” he said. “We got our first choice right-sided centre-half. One of the themes across the summer, is getting to players who really wanted to play for Leeds United and that’s really hard because it surprised me how much players want to play in the Premier League versus the Championship.

“A really strong replacement at the right side of centre-half, strong replacement at right-back. We accept we’ve lost a lot of potential in Archie [Gray], but, for this coming season, Jayden [Bogle] should be able to perform at or above Archie’s level quite comfortably.

“Two good solutions, creative solutions, at wing with one an emerging player with Largie [Ramazani] and one in Manor [Solomon], who’s really proven at a Champions League level and has the ability to really dominate this league. And the one missing piece of the jigsaw, which Daniel was very fair to identify, was, ideally, to give the window an A+ grade, we’d have secured a number 10.”

Angus Kinnear’s transfer window grading assessed

It’s hard to argue with Kinnear’s B+ grade, given how important several of Leeds’ summer signings have been. In defence, Jayden Bogle has settled into his new surroundings quickly, while Joe Rodon has formed an effective partnership with Pascal Struijk after the latter missed time out injured last season.

Largie Ramazani was beginning to establish himself as an important player before his injury and will no doubt play a key role when he returns, although Solomon is yet to show the kind of form that will see him ‘dominate’ at this level, which is perhaps the biggest misstep in the Leeds chief’s assessment at that stage.

Former Leeds defender Leigh Bromby admitted Solomon is ‘miles off it’ after the win over QPR, but Kinnear and company will no doubt be hoping the Spurs loanee is able to build some momentum after the break.

The 25-year-old started Israel’s goalless draw against France on Thursday evening, but made just 25 touches of the ball in a 72-minutes appearance before being subbed off.

Kinnear didn’t touch on Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell, but the central midfield pair have done exceptionally well to come in for the injured Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev, further underlining some of the good work Leeds have done in the market.

What does it mean for the January transfer window?

The January window is now less than 50 days away, so it is natural for fans to look ahead at any potential incomings.

Leeds’ defence looks to be well-stocked, with Sam Byram proving to be a more-than-able deputy in the full-back positions in recent weeks and Farke will be hoping that Amapdu and Gruev’s returns will mean they are well-stocked in the middle of the park.

Perhaps the only area Leeds may want to turn to is a player that can provide an attacking spark that they have sometimes lacked against opponents operating with a low-block, with last week’s defeat to Millwall a key example.