According to Gianluca Di Marzio, Leeds United are set to lose promising young left-back Leo Hjelde to Salernitana. This comes on the same day that Phil Hay noted “the cold truth” of the fact the Whites have allowed themselves to lose all control of the window.
‘The Cold Truth’ as Leeds United’s Transfer Window Spirals Out of Control in Leo Hjelde Sale
Leeds United Set to Lose Leo Hjelde
Amidst the loan of Jack Harrison to Everton and an ongoing saga around Willy Gnonto that forced the club to release a statement, there has been yet another youngster on the way out of Elland Road. Leo Fuhr Hjelde, a Norwegian left-back-cum-centre-back, is set to move to Serie A side Salernitana. Whilst the Norwegian hadn’t played too many matches for Leeds in his time at the club, his starts in both the first Championship match of the season and in the Carabao Cup showed that he could have played a big role in the squad.
Hjelde is arguably essential to Daniel Farke for a few reasons, the first of which is a lack of left-backs. Junior Firpo is the only other recognised player in that position in the squad and he is perenially injured, meaning that either Leo Hjelde plays there in his natural position or Sam Byram is forced over to the left-hand side. This combines with his ability to play in the middle of defence, another weak area. The youngster is an essential part of the squad purely due to a lack of depth.
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Losing Control of Transfer Business
The biggest trend of the transfer window thus far has been a complete lack of control in the window from the Whites. Victor Orta’s bad habit of giving the majority of his new signings a relegation loan clause means that the club has lost the likes of Brenden Aaronson, Rasmus Kristensen and Max Wober to top-tier leagues across Europe, with Robin Koch doing so in his last year of a Leeds United contract. In essence, the club is forced to release him for free next summer rather than being able to sell.
As a result of this, Farke’s side effectively need to wait before doing any business. With all of the control in the players’ hands, 49ers Enterprises are only able to react to players leaving as they go, rather than planning ahead of the moves. Leeds United are severely on the back foot at this stage of the season and have a lot of work to do.
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What Leeds United Need to Do
There is still a lot of recruitment that needs to be done at Elland Road. With Patrick Bamford (and his poor injury history) being the only option at number nine a move for a striker needs completing, in addition to the aforementioned lack of left-backs. Centre-back is still incredibly thin, especially with an injury to club captain Liam Cooper, and the loss of Jack Harrison means the wide positions could be extremely vulnerable with any further departures.
At a certain point, the Elland Road hierarchy needs to be more active than passive and start being aggressive in the market, or they risk getting left behind by rivals.
Image courtesy of Joe Blackburn, licensed to Last Word on Sports.
