Agent says 10-goal striker had to leave Leeds United, he was ‘nowhere near’ being considered by Jesse Marsch

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During Jesse Marsch’s era as Leeds United manager, there were a number of errors made in the transfer market – with Victor Orta largely to blame for Leeds’ fall from grace.

The sacking of Marcelo Bielsa lead to the arrival of Marsch. But in 32 Premier League games as boss at Elland Road, the American won 33 points. Arne Slot already has more points than Marsch after 13 games.

Signings like Marc Roca, Rasmus Kristensen and Brenden Aaronson didn’t work. Kalvin Phillips and now-Barcelona captain Raphinha were sold, and the replacements for them did not fill the duo’s big void.

But during that era, young players brought to the club by Victor Orta were also sold. Leif Davis is starring for Ipswich and Barry Douglas has even touted Davis for an England call-up, after leaving in summer 2022.

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Hayden Evans on Max Dean leaving Leeds United in 2023

In the winter window, Leeds bought Georginio Rutter and it pushed Max Dean further down the pecking order at Leeds. Dean left that month to join MK Dons, with Mark Jackson as manager in League Two.

Dean left without ever being considered for the senior side. But the England youth international scored 20 goals in 43 games at MK Dons, and it saw Belgian side Gent pay £2m to lure him away from these shores.

Since then, he has not looked back. Dean has been pulling off Conor McGregor celebrations in Belgium, and on the weekend, Dean took his tally to 10 goals in just his 23rd appearance for the Belgian outfit.

His agent Hayden Evans told The Square Ball: “Max, at the time he left the club was getting nowhere near [the first team]. Nowhere near. He was always going to have to step back to go forward, clear as day.

“You have to be callous and hard with your players and say it doesn’t matter what your head is telling you – you have to say you’re not going to play for Leeds at this moment. We have to be hard with them.”

Max Dean on fire in Belgium, he’s scored more than Leeds players

Dean has now scored 10 goals for Gent. A whole mixture of goals, coming domestically and in the Europa Conference League, from inside and outside the area. On Sunday, it was a penalty to net his tenth.

Would Dean have made it at Leeds? Or did he need to leave in order to realise his quality and confidence and build from there. The latter is proof he needed to go, but did Leeds need to sell him permanently?

That is where lies Leeds’ mistake. They should have loaned him to MK Dons, and then sent him on loan again. Instead, Gent have a bargain at £2m and will surely sell Dean for a lot more when the time is right.