Leeds United are approaching the final 10 per cent of the transfer window with around half of their summer business still to do and the later those deals are left the greater the risk of pitfalls
Thursday marks a fortnight since Leeds United’s most recent arrival of the summer transfer window and takes the deadline-day countdown to eight days. Elland Road’s top brass will be into the realms of at least one new signing every two days on average as the stress of the window’s final week closes in.
Prior to Tyler Adams’s departure, United were understood to be eyeing four arrivals before September 2. The American’s departure for around £23m will have posed the question they need to up that tally.
Either way, it’s been a long time since United added the fourth of their quartet and they now have at least half, if not more, of their summer business to do in the final 10 per cent of the window. This is the way it has always been in transfer windows.
Only when the chips are down and deadlines focus everyone’s minds does the bulk of business get done. How late do Leeds choose to leave it for their primary targets, however?
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Full-backs, central midfielders and strikers have formed the primary focus of late. Angus Kinnear, Gretar Steinsson, Nick Hammond and Daniel Farke know who they want and those players, as well as their clubs, will know of that interest by now, given it’s the 11th hour of the window.
However, those targets, shortlisted as promotion-calibre talents, will keep their options open for as long as possible. Premier League players are generally averse to dropping into the Championship, while second-tier clubs would prefer to avoid strengthening their rivals.
That is until push comes to shove. Players, perhaps cleared by their top-flight paymasters for season-long loan exits, will look to wait as long as possible for all of their offers to land before committing to anyone.
The same can be said for Championship outfits. When it gets to late August, how much can they, realistically, resist significant seven-figure fees in a generally loss-making league like this?
As much as those players and clubs may look to keep Leeds waiting until the middle of next week, when do Farke and co move on? Primary targets have that status for a reason, but the later Leeds leave it, the greater the risk of problems arising.
The later these moves are left to go through, the more chance there is of third parties swooping at the last minute, leaving the Whites chasing their tail with little time to react. There’s also the risk those targets’ clubs encounter fresh problems and change their minds on letting those players leave.
Across Kinnear, Steinsson, Hammond and Farke there is an immense amount of experience. They will surely be aware of last-minute pitfalls and the need for action before the dreaded chaos of deadline day.
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