Yorkshire Evening Post 9/8/13 - Centre-back search continues for boss McDermott
by Phil Hay
A new centre-back remains an urgent priority for Brian McDermott with the Leeds United manager looking to maintain the club’s promising start to the season.
McDermott expressed concern about the availability of only two central defenders at Elland Road – Tom Lees and Jason Pearce – and said he would push to add another option to his squad before the transfer window closes on September 2.
The Leeds boss is continuing to identify possible signings in anticipation of outgoing transfers which open the door to new arrivals.
He was linked yesterday with Scott Wootton, Manchester United’s 21-year-old defender, and is known to be interested in Bolton Wanderers’ Matt Mills. United are insisting that McDermott cut the wage bill at Elland Road before bringing further players on board and McDermott said: “I’m trying. There’s no point in me saying what I’m trying to do but I am trying.
“We’ve got, for example, two young centre-halves playing all the games because we’ve only got those two. We’ve got a number of left-backs but no wingers. We’re short in areas.”
But McDermott paid tribute to his players after they followed up a 2-1 defeat of Brighton on the first day of the Championship season with a League Cup victory over Chesterfield on Wednesday night.
United will attempt to extend their 100 per cent start at Leicester City on Sunday.
“I’m trying to do what I can with the players I’ve got and they’re doing great,” McDermott said.
“We’ve been without Rudy Austin, El-Hadji Diouf and Sam Byram and they’re big players for us but we’ve won the last two games and dug out results.”
Leicester boss Nigel Pearson also talked up United’s squad by saying he expected Leeds to improve significantly on the difficult campaign they endured last season.
Pearson, whose own side are under pressure to compete for promotion to the Premier League over the next nine months, said: “We have to win the game (on Sunday) against a side who I expect to improve on last season. I say that in the sense that they’ll have higher expectations themselves.
“They’re similar to ourselves in that both sets of fans would expect success and would like to get back into the top league. Of course we have to deal with the weight of expectation.”
A new centre-back remains an urgent priority for Brian McDermott with the Leeds United manager looking to maintain the club’s promising start to the season.
McDermott expressed concern about the availability of only two central defenders at Elland Road – Tom Lees and Jason Pearce – and said he would push to add another option to his squad before the transfer window closes on September 2.
The Leeds boss is continuing to identify possible signings in anticipation of outgoing transfers which open the door to new arrivals.
He was linked yesterday with Scott Wootton, Manchester United’s 21-year-old defender, and is known to be interested in Bolton Wanderers’ Matt Mills. United are insisting that McDermott cut the wage bill at Elland Road before bringing further players on board and McDermott said: “I’m trying. There’s no point in me saying what I’m trying to do but I am trying.
“We’ve got, for example, two young centre-halves playing all the games because we’ve only got those two. We’ve got a number of left-backs but no wingers. We’re short in areas.”
But McDermott paid tribute to his players after they followed up a 2-1 defeat of Brighton on the first day of the Championship season with a League Cup victory over Chesterfield on Wednesday night.
United will attempt to extend their 100 per cent start at Leicester City on Sunday.
“I’m trying to do what I can with the players I’ve got and they’re doing great,” McDermott said.
“We’ve been without Rudy Austin, El-Hadji Diouf and Sam Byram and they’re big players for us but we’ve won the last two games and dug out results.”
Leicester boss Nigel Pearson also talked up United’s squad by saying he expected Leeds to improve significantly on the difficult campaign they endured last season.
Pearson, whose own side are under pressure to compete for promotion to the Premier League over the next nine months, said: “We have to win the game (on Sunday) against a side who I expect to improve on last season. I say that in the sense that they’ll have higher expectations themselves.
“They’re similar to ourselves in that both sets of fans would expect success and would like to get back into the top league. Of course we have to deal with the weight of expectation.”
