Good Morning. It's Tuesday 23rd February, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Juve willing to let Costa join Leeds but only for swap deal
Italian website Calcio Mercato24 are claiming that Juventus may be willing to let Brazilian International Douglas Costa join the Whites, but only in exchange for Rodrigo. Costa is surplus to requirements at the Allianz Stadium and is currently out on loan to Bayern Munich. The 30yo has 18 months of his contract remaining, so Manager Andrea Pirlo will be keen to move the striker on in the Summer. Record signing Rodrigo has had a steady start to his Premiership career, but few would say he has set the World on fire. Leeds record signing turns 30 next month.
Costa is valued at £21.5m. Can a deal be done? Should a deal be done? What would you do?
Saints journo praises Bamfords awful to ruthless transformation
Saints journalist Steve Grant has been sharing his thoughts on Patrick Bamfords amazing transformation over the last six months, and how the former Chelsea hit man went from 'basically awful' to 'ruthless'.
I find it absolutely baffling that Patrick Bamford has suddenly turned into a good striker. Obviously, Chelsea paid decent money to sign him as a 15-year-old from Nottingham Forest and they then farmed him out on loan five or six times, and he was basically awful everywhere and he wasn’t even that great for Leeds last season.
They would have absolutely run away with the league and had it sewn up before the lock down if he’d been in the same form as he has been this season and yet something’s just clicked in him this season and all of a sudden he’s not just a ruthless striker but he also shows him an awful lot of intelligence I think in terms of his runs, dragging defenders out of the way which then allows other players like Raphinha and Rodrigo when he’s been fit to run into those gaps and create chances through other avenues.
Whelan questions Roberts 'fight and desire'
During a recent interview with 'Football Insider' former Leeds striker Noel Whelan gave his thoughts on Tyler Roberts, and whether the former Baggies hit man deserved a new contract when his expires in the Summer of 2022. Whelan certainly pulled no punches justifying that he thought Roberts fitness levels were below par and questioned his fight and desire!
While he is young I do not think he is of the required level. His fitness levels did not look great the other day either. He did nothing after 20 minutes. That is a substitute’s performance. We need a player who can play 90 minutes. Roberts has been injured too often. He was even injured when we signed him.
Is he good enough? In my opinion he isn’t. I would love him to go out there and prove me wrong because I want everyone to succeed. I need him to show me more. He needs to show more fight and desire. I just do not see that. It makes me wonder whether he would be better off leaving and going somewhere where he would get regular game time.
He had one good performance against Hull last season. That is it. I do not think we have seen the real Tyler Roberts yet. I find it very hard to see a career for him at Leeds United on the current evidence.
Bielsa - reevaluate position at the end of the season
Marcelo Bielsa has revealed that he wants Leeds to reevaluate his Managerial situation at the end of the season, now get tied down now. The 65yo made it clear that he wasn't trying to delay the situation, nor did it mean that the club had more desire than him to stay.
The first thing I want to highlight, because what it seems like is that the president is offering me an extension and I am delaying it. It could be interpreted as the club having more of a desire for me to stay than I do and that's not the case. In no way do I want to position myself above the club. I reiterate, I am not going to manage any other options until my job here at Leeds is done. There is no speculation from my part."
The second thing is that the decision to work in a club for another year is so important that you must have a clear security. When you have a third of the season left to play, perhaps in this period there will be things that happen that will alter the judgement that is useful to have in mind. That is my reasoning. So I go to what you ask me. If the club needs an answer before the end of the season, I will respond before the end of the season.
But if this happens I will take the time to tell them that they should consider what happens in the last part of the season. In this case, it's possible that they could say to me 'ok, we'll wait until the end of the season', or they may say to me 'no, we need to resolve this before the end of the season. If they need a response prior to the end of the season then I will give one.
