Leeds United are highly unlikely to be signing Christian Eriksen or any free agent after their disastrous transfer deadline day, according to Robbie Evans.
The transfer window has been closed for nearly two days but Leeds United fans are still raging with the club’s lack of business on deadline day.
Daniel Farke had made it abundantly clear that he still wanted attacking reinforcements, fearing his current arsenal wouldn’t be enough to fire Leeds to Premier League safety.
Paraag Marathe had promised signings in the closing stages of the window but Leeds missed out on Facundo Buonanotte to Chelsea, while Emi Buendia stayed at Aston Villa.
That didn’t leave many options on deadline day, but Harry Wilson emerged as a late target.
Wilson looked set to join Leeds, but Fulham opted to keep the playmaker at the last minute, leaving the Whites high and dry.
Fans had been looking to the free agent market as a last sliver of hope, with Christian Eriksen and Josh Brownhill both without clubs, but Leeds managing director Robbie Evans has said that’s unlikely to happen.
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Leeds United unlikely to sign any free agents after disastrous transfer deadline day
Speaking in a QnA with the Yorkshire Evening Post, Evans was asked by Graham Smyth if there was any possibility Leeds would be shopping in the free agent market or would the club just be looking towards January.
Not only did Evans pour water on the suggestion that a free agent – like Eriksen or Brownhill – could arrive, but he made it clear the club don’t want to be spending in January if they can help it, either.
“I think whether it’s in the window or it’s free agent market only, or it’s January, it’s all about what does the team actually need?” Evans said.
“What is the opportunity cost, as far as the buy you can’t make later on, or the sale you might have to make out of your current roster?
“I don’t think right now there’s any need so great that it’s worth going to the free agent market to fill it, in part because I doubt the right player is there.
“It’s a great market for injuries. So last year brought Josuha [Guilavogui] on. We had an emergency crisis with injuries. But beyond that, it’s probably wait and see.
“And you know, once we get through the first 10 games, you’re eight games from January. And so if we have to evaluate, we’ll use that.
“But our goal is to avoid January, if possible. So there’s a reason we didn’t do a big thing in January last year or the year before.
“The goal is to be done early. And actually, we got all of our core guys done before the season even began, for that reason.
“So not just before deadline day, but actually before August was the goal with the key ones. And so it’s there, but we don’t see using free agency as a priority because there’s only a handful of players we felt were good enough to begin with, and the pool obviously shrinks dramatically when you go from the entirety of the window, or the players in the window to the handful of free agents that are available.”
Leeds United had no room left to spend under PSR rules
In the aftermath of yet another letdown of a deadline day, Leeds fans were asking why ‘every penny’ wasn’t spent, as had been promised by the 49ers.
Leeds had been interested in big-money moves for Igor Paixao and Rodrigo Muniz, yet didn’t end up spending the funds those deals would have taken on anybody else.
Leeds’ eventual outlay on their 10 signings was £108.9m, but only £18m of that went on forwards with the signing of Noah Okafor. Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha arrived on free transfers
Leeds’ attacking spending pales in comparison to Sunderland’s, who spent about £25m on two new forwards on deadline day alone after heavy spending throughout the summer.
However, according to Evans, Leeds did spend ‘everything’ and had little room left to operate under PSR rules.
“So unequivocally, we are maxing PSR out this season, this summer,” he said. “We spent everything we could.
“If we had gone onto other targets yesterday or onto higher price players back in July, the consequences would have been seen in the current roster, in terms of players we either could not add beyond the guys that got brought in – so the players that came in in August wouldn’t have come had those deals been made in July – or you’d see more key players from last year’s promotion side having to go.
“And so for us, there were only a handful of players that were worth even considering making those kinds of sales. And when those top players didn’t materialise, we held on to our key players instead.”
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