Yosuke Ideguchi In, Mallik Wilks Protected And A Clinical Forward – Leeds United’s Transfer Hopes Explored

Yosuke Ideguchi In, Mallik Wilks Protected And A Clinical Forward – Leeds United’s Transfer Hopes Explored

Leeds United have already started their January transfer business by agreeing on a deal for Japanese star Yosuke Ideguchi, though the midfielder will go off into Europe on loan until he is eligible to play for the Whites.

Manager Thomas Christiansen will expect the board to back his attempts to strengthen the Leeds squad and ensure a promotion tilt is maintained throughout the second half of the season, though in all fairness, their return to form has been just as much about him making braver decisions than anything else.

At the start of the season, Ronaldo Vieira was not picked for whatever reason, while Kemar Roofe was often played out of position. The boss also succumbed to public pressure and dropped goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald.

On top of this, Pablo Hernandez was played out of position on the left, simply in order to accommodate him, which clearly was a mistake.

In recent times, Vieira and Wiedwald have come back into the team, Hernandez is out as Saiz is a better option at No.10 and Kemar Roofe loves cutting in from the left, a position from which he scored a hat-trick at QPR recently.

The No.9 position has been a pain, with Pierre-Michel Lasogga maintaining his streaky ways, though the club are adamant the German striker was indeed injured after the international break. He is now back in training but you suspect he could go AWOL at any time.

With that in mind, only small tweaks may be needed to the squad in January. In that case, I would expect Leeds to nail a playoff spot at least with the minimum of fuss, injuries allowing of course.

In terms of outgoings, Everton have maintained their pursuit of Leeds’ young striker Mallik Wilks and will probably make a bid for the on-loan forward next month.

Leeds have made good money in the past by selling some top young talent, however, there has to come a time when they stop doing this for short-term gain and start looking at the future.

They are half a good season away from the Premier League and should they get there, they’ll need all the top talent they can get. It’s hard enough to buy that talent but when you already possess it and decide to sell it on, that looks criminal to fans. You can’t play a bag of money up front.

So, a good window for Leeds would be keeping hold of Wilks to protect their future somewhat, as well as bringing in a striker on who they can rely on between now and April.