Leeds United may yet find themselves back in the Premier League next season, but would they be fighting Newcastle and Brighton for the title had they kept hold of certain players?
I’d say in the case of our first named player, yes, and it could have been of benefit to the player as well. Here are two lads from opposite ends of the spectrum they perhaps should have held on to.
Lewis Cook
A great prospect in the midfield not just for new club Bournemouth, but perhaps also for England before long. Cook raked in around £7million for Leeds when he was sold to the south coast outfit last summer, but could the move have been avoided?
A planned loan back to Leeds did not materialise for the boy from York, the result being a sum total of Cook’s professional appearances this season amounting to 1 Premier League game, 1 in the FA Cup and 2 in the EFL Cup. Scant reward for his talent and you can’t help wonder whether he’d have been better off at Elland Road in a promotion push.
The guarantee of regular first time football, the chance of Premier League status one way or the other within a year and to still be playing for the team he supported as a boy would have been attractive prospects. Given the right advice, it would not have been too hard to convince Cook to stay put and for Leeds’ part, they have to ask whether they’d rather the £7million in the bank or have an even bigger chance of Premier League football with a top England midfielder playing in their side.
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