Thomas Christiansen Could Have Just Struck Gold For Leeds With The Signing Of This Dutch Midfielder

Three Reasons Why Vurnon Anita Is A Great Coup For Leeds

Championship side Leeds United have completed the free transfer of Vurnon Anita from Newcastle United and he could be an excellent acquisition for the club.

The former Dutch international arrives at Elland Road on a three-year deal with manager Thomas Christiansen alleviating transfer window fears more and more with every week that passes.

The squad is not looking so bad now and in Anita, they have a player with very recent experience of winning this division. Here we look at three key things that mark Anita out as a very good signing for the West Yorkshire club.

Versatility

Anita is as versatile a player as I’ve seen in this division for many a year. Playing primarily as a right-back under Rafa Benitez at Newcastle, he started life under that manager as a more attacking right-midfielder and is just as comfortable as a defensive, holding midfield player too.

Vurn has filled in at left-back at times too and not let anyone down, meaning that he’d fill many a crack left by others in the squad through injury, suspension or loss of form. In a 46-game Championship season, we cannot underestimate the importance of players like Anita and at the time of writing I am no further forward to knowing where Christiansen wants to play him.

Value For Money

Whatever wage Leeds have agreed to pay Anita, you can trust that it won’t be extortionate. The man born in Curacao arrives without the club paying a fee either. So this is a rare deal indeed.

Anita would surely have commanded a good fee in ordinary circumstances so the hierarchy at Leeds must be very pleased with the job that they have done. The diminutive utility man cost Newcastle £6.7million in 2012 when he moved from Ajax, which shows the regard in which he has been held.

Premier League Pedigree

Anita held his own at Premier League level, particularly under Benitez, and was capped three times by the Netherlands too to back that up. So at 28 years of age, there is no reason to think that he’s incapable of being a top level player even now.

I’ve written before about the importance of getting what you believe to be Premier League-class players into a Championship team if you want to gain promotion (easier said than done, I know), in Anita’s case, trust me, there are far worse players who will play 20+ games at the top level next season.