The 49ers dodged a bullet with Charles De Ketelaere after Leeds United came close to £35m deal

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Leeds spent heavily in the summer of 2022 in an attempt to give Marcelo Bielsa the best chance of survival.

£25m was splashed to bring Brenden Aaronson to Elland Road, along with £21m and £20m fees for Luis Sinisterra and Tyler Adams respectively – not to mention a £35.5m deal for Georginio Rutter in January 2023.

None of those names truly lived up to the transfer fee, and that period of recruitment could have looked even worse for the 49ers had a £35m bid for Charles De Ketelaere been accepted.

Charles De Ketelaere has struggled significantly since rejecting Leeds move

Leeds offered a substantial £35m for the Belgian attacker in July 2022. Vincent Mannaert – CEO of Club Brugge – even confirmed this bid was made, but conceded that De Ketelaere preferred to join AC Milan despite their offer being worth less.

The 51-year-old said: “Leeds United offered forty million euros.

“It is not that De Ketelaere was not interested, but, at that time, his preference was for AC Milan. Leeds were willing to pay more, but we also respected the choice of our player.”

Leeds fans should be glad the Belgium international opted for Milan – where he struggled and consequently moved to Atalanta in August 2023.

In 150 games for AC Milan and Atalanta since Leeds saw their bid rejected, De Ketelaere has scored just 29 goals. All of those have come for Atalanta, with the man born in Bruges actually failing to score for AC Milan in 40 games.

Of course, Leeds have hardly been masters of the transfer market since seeing this bid fail, but it would have carried serious repercussions for the 49ers had it gone through – they would probably still be paying instalments on the transfer even today.

Leeds still need to improve when it comes to recruitment

There were some decent deals in the summer transfer window – namely the £12m signing of Sean Longstaff – but Leeds still have to improve in this regard.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
16	LeedsLeeds	10	3	2	5	9	17	-8	11
17	BurnleyBurnley	10	3	1	6	12	19	-7	10
18	West HamWest Ham	10	2	1	7	10	21	-11	7
19	Nottingham ForestNottingham Forest	10	1	3	6	7	19	-12	6
20	WolvesWolves	10	0	2	8	7	22	-15	2

Lucas Perri is yet to impress despite commanding a £15m fee, the same price as Jaka Bijol – who struggled at Brighton and does not look any better than Pascal Struijk.

Anton Stach has also been dropped by Daniel Farke following a £17m move from Hoffenheim.

So, as the likes of Sunderland show what wise recruitment can do, Leeds have to get smarter.