Leeds United tax applied to Whites' transfer business as Victor Orta faces tough decision - YEP 22/6/22
Victor Orta has his work cut out this summer as Leeds United's rivals seek to benefit from the Whites' youth recruitment tactics
By Joe Donnohue
Leeds' Under-23 recruitment over the past couple of seasons
has yielded the signings of Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood, Crysencio Summerville
and Pascal Struijk among others.
Several players initially signed for the development squad
have gone on to make senior debuts and establish themselves as bonafide
first-team players - Struijk and Gelhardt in particular.
Director of football Victor Orta has been lauded by chairman
Andrea Radrizzani for this approach to youth recruitment, picking up youngsters
who are almost the finished article, for relatively small fees, and developing
them further at Elland Road.
Lewis Bate, Leo Hjelde, Sean McGurk and Amari Miller arrived
last summer for a cumulative total believed to be in the region of £4-5
million.
The signing of highly-rated England Under-20 international
Bate was seen as something of a coup in English youth football circles, however
Leeds are finding it difficult this summer to repeat their exploits.
Many of Leeds' Under-23 signings have been plucked from
fellow British sides, capitalising on talent bottle-necks and seizing upon
players who perhaps felt underappreciated elsewhere.
As a result of Leeds' successful recruitment, clubs this
time around are playing hard-ball with Victor Orta, driving the price up of
their talented teenagers.
When Leeds are materially interested in a player whose
senior experience is little-to-none and succeed in securing his signature, they
have a track record of developing that individual into a footballer capable of
competing at Premier League level.
Premier League players are a rare commodity in the
professional game and do not come cheaply, therefore clubs with several
promising youngsters are increasingly unwilling to sell them for a cut-price
fee.
This summer, the Whites have been linked with Manchester
City's Romeo Lavia - a highly sought-after defensive midfielder from Belgium.
Where City previously permitted Ian Poveda a move to Elland
Road for free before the end of his contract, they are unlikely to take a
similar stance with Lavia.
Similarly, other Premier League clubs boasting academies
brimming with talent are increasingly wiser to Leeds' methods and therefore
less likely to sanction sales for low, seven-figure sums as the Whites have
negotiated previously.
This may require Leeds to alter their Under-23 recruitment,
focusing more of their resources on players with expiring contracts who could
subsequently move to Elland Road on free transfers.
In this scenario, training compensation which rarely exceeds
£1 million would be Leeds' only transfer expense.
Last summer, Leeds announced their first addition of the
window with the arrival of Amari Miller for the Under-23 side on June 28, 2021.
If Leeds are to bolster the Under-23 group this summer, it
is most likely to occur in July as efforts are made to supplement the
first-team take priority.
Nevertheless, the speed at which Leeds recruit for the
development squad this summer will be reflective of how high prices have risen
for England's best teenagers.
