A wrap up of all of the latest Leeds United headlines this morning.
Here are your morning Leeds United headlines on Friday, August 18.
Darragh MacAnthony says whoever agreed Leeds United loan clauses should never work in football again
Peterborough United owner Darragh MacAnthony has poured scorn on whoever was responsible for permitting relegation loan clauses to be inserted
into so many Whites players’ contracts, leaving the club facing an uphill battle in the transfer market this summer.
Speaking on his podcast The Hard Truth, MacAnthony said: “Whoever put a [bleep] loan clause in for relegation needs to be lined up, shot, and never
allowed to work in football again. I don’t know who did those deals – the guy that was there before? I’m sure it’s not the current ownership.
“The idea that…yes, [I understand] a relegation [transfer] clause, you sign a premium young player from Europe, their agent is going to go ‘well Leeds
are going to go down, if Leeds go down, £25m’, so [Leeds] get their money back and a profit.
“But to allow a clause that states that said player can go out on loan if his wages are paid for the season, where you get none of your fee back…the
player can go on loan, have a [bleep] season wherever they go on loan and then completely lose their value – and worse than that, your team is
weakened.
“I feel sorry for the people that have now taken over fully that that’s happened, and I feel sorry for the manager, because they’ve lost some [bleep] key
players, they’re going to continue to lose players – they lost Harrison last week, one of the strikers doesn’t want to play – and the worst part is they
haven’t really done any business.
“So I don’t know if it’s going to be like lastminute.com where you’re going to see Leeds sign five or six players. I’ve said this before, they are a [bleep]
gigantic club. I think they’re under good new ownership, I think they’re going to be fine, I do think they’re going to get back to the Premier League in
next two years.
“But they need to put their foot down on bringing in players to help Daniel Farke, and that needs to happen from tomorrow onwards with two weeks
left in the window, so that late in the window they haven’t got issues with it, and they need to learn that never again do you ever agree to put a loan
clause in.
“Sell clause, fine for relegation, but a loan close…[bleep] move on to another player. So that was just bad business from the previous hierarchy,
allowing that to happen, and I feel for the Leeds fans.”
Leeds United squad revealed to face West Brom with Daniel Farke’s side down to bare bones
Daniel Farke’s selection woes have shown no sign of improving this week with Leeds United down to the bare bones once again. The Whites take on a
West Brom side who are many people’s outsiders for a play-off spot this season.
Former Leeds United assistant coach Carlos Corberan will bring his Baggies side to Elland Road, looking for a big three points in their quest for
promotion. Farke will be without Helder Costa, Willy Gnonto and Luis Sinisterra – all of whom are training away from the first-team squad having
been linked with moves away from the club.
Leeds are yet to bring in any further additions following the loan signing of Joe Rodon last week. The Wales international was named among the
substitutes in the defeat to Birmingham City having missed out on pre-season with parent club Tottenham Hotspur.
Both he and Georginio Rutter have had a full week training with the latter of the duo recovering from an injury. Leeds will be without Tyler Adams,
Stuart Dallas, Junior Firpo, Leo Hjelde, Patrick Bamford, Mateo Joseph, Sonny Perkins and Crysencio Summerville through injury.
Leeds United squad to face West Brom : Illan Meslier, Kristoffer Klaesson, Karl Darlow, Cody Drameh, Luke Ayling, Pascal Struijk, Charlie
Cresswell, Joe Rodon, Sam Byram, Ethan Ampadu, Sam Greenwood, Darko Gyabi, Lewis Bate, Jamie Shackleton, Archie Gray, Ian Poveda, Dan
James, Joe Gelhardt, Georginio Rutter
READ NEXT:
Leeds United could see the next phase of the transfer window unfurled vs West Brom
Leeds United host Carlos Corberan’s West Bromwich Albion at Elland Road in the Championship on Friday night and here are five things to look out
for around the match
A reaction?
Whatever the reasons behind the numerous absences from last weekend’s squad at Birmingham City, Leeds United put in a poor performance on the
day and everyone needs to see a response under the Elland Road lights.
Daniel Farke is unlikely to have a vastly different set of players to choose from tonight, but a full week of training and a couple of returners, backed by
more than 30,000 home fans will be enough to get them back on track, they hope.
Ayling under pressure?
The vice-captain was one of only two outfield players older than 26 on Saturday, providing a vital, isolated pillar of experience on the field. However,
this has not been a generally impressive start to the season for Luke Ayling.
Question marks around his performances in the Premier League have not been silenced in the opening weeks of this season. With Cody Drameh
finally getting some consistent training into his legs, Farke must weigh up just how important Ayling’s leadership is versus the need to give the
understudy a turn.
READ MORE: Leeds United absence speaks volumes after repeated Daniel Farke warnings
Energise the attack?
One shot on target in the second city summed up the difficulty Leeds had in attack last weekend. Jamie Shackleton being played out of position on
the right wing did not help matters, while Ian Poveda and Joe Gelhardt struggled to unlock doors down the middle.
A full week of training for Georginio Rutter should make him an irresistible addition to the team for Farke. Does he go with Gelhardt in behind and
Poveda on the right?
Full debut for Rodon?
Joe Rodon had not been long in the building when the Birmingham game came around, so a full debut may have felt a little rushed. He has now had a
full week with the team and it will be interesting to see if his age and experience push Charlie Cresswell or Pascal Struijk aside.
It would be the next phase of this summer’s business being established in the starting line-up.
Elland Road returns
Alex Mowatt, Kyle Bartley and Carlos Corberan will all have fond memories of being at Elland Road during their tenures at Leeds. This will be
Corberan’s first visit to the ground in the away dugout since leaving the club for Huddersfield Town after promotion was secured in 2020 under
Marcelo Bielsa.
He has been tentatively linked to the top job in LS11 after Jesse Marsch and Sam Allardyce’s departures, but never seemingly got close to the job.
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