I don't know why, because I have never seen so much as a YouTube misrepresentation... sorry, I mean video... but the season long signing of Sakho has really got me feeling hopeful for next season.
I'm looking forward to whoever is next to arrive and I have to send thanks to MC for putting his money where his mouth is despite the challenges and battles of last season.
The ideal scenario is having a small settled first team with the youth knocking on the door as back up / replacements. Having too many first team players can lead to a lot of unhappy players as not everyone can play whereas if it is youth team players pushing their way in it is much healthier as the youth players aren't just expecting to play. A great scenario here is with Taylor and Berardi as first choice full backs and Lewie Coyle available if one of them gets injured/banned (with Berardi switching to left if needed). Likewise in midfield with Kalvin Phillips chomping at the bit to come in if Cook/Mowatt/Murphy/Diagoura etc are ruled out.
Man Utd under Ferguson were masters of this with youth team and local lads providing the back up with the likes of Phil Neville, Nicky Butt etc happy to be squad players for several seasons, not quite first team standard but decent enough to do a job when called upon. They also had the likes of Wes Brown, John O'Shea and others to constantly provide the youthful/local back up. The only real area where Ferguson kept 4 or 5 players competing for 2 positions was up front as strikers are more prone to a lack of form/confidence and when chasing a game it is better to be able to make substitutions to have 4 strikers all playing at the same time (as in their Champions League win over Bayern Munich) than to have 5 or 6 midfielders on.
One key element is also to have players that aren't particularly injury prone and also players that don't get banned that often.
lufc1304 wrote:Ok, I've never heard of Sakho, can anybody help?
Youngster from Sporting Lisbon. Highly rated but been kicking around in their second team and on loan.
They had seen enough of him to slap a £60m release clause in his contract when they signed him.
attacking midfielder/winger with pace to burn.
Could be onto a winner.
I somehow doubt we would be able to sign a Frank Ribery anyway. That's like comparing a kinder egg to a Faberge egg. Kinder egg is our level right now so I'm happy with our signing.
I hope Sacko comes and does good. He's another loan to buy right? Very good business by MC with all these loan to buy options. And no I don't think we need to pay the £60M fee. I've read somewhere that it's just something that the European teams do with young players and they'd be willing to accept a £3M bid for him. Obviously he'd need to play and play well for us. Very quick apparently, just hope he's not another Kebe!
He's not even played for Sporting Lison first team so this €60m buy out clause is nothing short of farcical. According to a Portuguese football correspondent on Twitter, Leeds fans can expect nothing more than a squad player who may show " flashes of brilliance " from off the bench but not much more. Sounds like Botaka.
Genghers wrote:So long as you have enough cover in case of injuries. Two players for each position ought to be fine, with a bit of variation in roles...
One of the big problems last season was an unstable starting 11.
I don't think you even need that, a strong bench is something we have not had for a long time.
Every game I predict a 3 - 1 Leeds win, I am traditional like that.
herefordbornleedsboy wrote:Youngster from Sporting Lisbon. Highly rated but been kicking around in their second team and on loan.
They had seen enough of him to slap a £60m release clause in his contract when they signed him.
attacking midfielder/winger with pace to burn.
Could be onto a winner.
Thanks, mate, sounds promising
"When the going gets weird, the weird get professional!" Hunter S Thompson
Gurj wrote:He's not even played for Sporting Lison first team so this €60m buy out clause is nothing short of farcical. According to a Portuguese football correspondent on Twitter, Leeds fans can expect nothing more than a squad player who may show " flashes of brilliance " from off the bench but not much more. Sounds like Botaka.
Hope he is a better version of Botaka who can provide some fairly consistent speed and quality as a winger. That is all we really need at this level. If he turns out to be a dud, then we're not on the hook for a multi-year contract.
Also wonder if this puts the kibosh on Anthony Limbombe coming from NEC?
RIP Twiggster, March 5, 2023
Chris & Kevin | Never Forgotten | April 5, 2000
Gary Andrew Speed, MBE — Always In Our Hearts, 1969-2011
We've apparently signed rob green according to talk sport (Leeds official Twitter just put something up about announcing a new signing soon so presume it's this)
Same reporter claiming to announce the rob green news says were also close to signing Leon Osman on a free too
