Despite the likelihood of having to sell one or two key players, Danny Mills is adamant that Leeds United will emerge from the summer transfer season stronger than when it began.
After Leeds was relegated to another season of Championship football by Southampton in the play-off final last month, the Elland Road management has not hidden the desire to sell. Due to reduced three-year loss limits under the profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) and a decrease in Premier League parachute payments, both parties’ resources are more constrained, and player sales are still the most obvious way to make significant money.
Interest in players like Crysencio Summerville and Wilfried Gnonto will probably translate into bids that Leeds just cannot reject, though a fire sale a la Peter Ridsdale is not required. Chairman Paraag Marathe, however, is adamant that cash will also be used to bolster Daniel Farke’s team, and former Whites defender Mills thinks a more well-rounded group will be strong enough to advance at the second attempt.
Leeds should be able to compete because their roster for the upcoming season is still roughly half of what it was in the Premier League, according to Mills. Going down Elland Road is never easy, of course. Leeds supporters would gladly accept second place today and promotion back to the Premier League. They’ll build on their success from this season and have another successful campaign.
They will sell a few players if it means they can bring in four or five new ones. The manager and players will be in a stronger position collectively next season than they were this one, given the amount of players that were sent out on loan at the beginning of the season. It was challenging for the management to not know who was staying and who was leaving. That was evident in the initial set of results. A more composed preseason and opening to the season will benefit Leeds.
Leeds was the first Premier League team to drop out before rising back up again; Southampton triumphed at Wembley and Leicester City won the Championship. If Ipswich Town hadn’t won a second straight promotion under Kieran McKenna, the top two divisions in England would have undergone a full 12-month reset.
In the competition for a top-two finish, Burnley, Luton Town, and Sheffield United—all of whom only had one season in the top division—will try to challenge Leeds. Though there will undoubtedly be a few surprises at the Championship, Mills believes Farke’s team to be the best.
“We saw it with Ipswich this year, but there’s always a surprise to look out for,” he continued. However, in terms of teams collapsing, Sheffield United was awful, and it’s hard to recover from that. If Luton keeps some of its players, they should be there or close by. They may be powerful and combative, but they will need to recover from their hangover swiftly.
