'My understanding' — Graham Smyth reveals great transfer detail behind Leeds United scout-and-sign process — YEP 14/6/25
By Joe Donnohue
YEP chief football writer Graham Smyth has revealed how
Leeds United are scouting and signing players under the new, 49ers-led regime.
This summer's transfer window could prove to be the most
crucial in recent years for Leeds with Premier League survival paramount for
the club to achieve their future goals on and off the pitch.
United have a team of scouts, analysts and deal negotiators
to identify and pursue players they feel can bolster and improve Daniel Farke's
squad with a view to remaining in the top flight for the long haul.
Speaking on the Inside Elland Road podcast this week, YEP
chief football writer Graham Smyth provided an insight into how Leeds' transfer
process works internally, from start to finish.
"One of the big questions we could probably try and
address that a lot of people are saying is: Who's making the calls?
"How many people have said to us, 'Are there concerns
about the lack of experience in the room when it comes to recruitment?' Because
they lost Nick Hammond, vastly experienced, Angus Kinnear who's been involved
in a lot of transfer windows for Leeds has gone, Jordan Miles went long, long
ago. And now you've got Adam Underwood who is sporting director, who's been
running the academy, running Thorp Arch and the football operations for the
last while but most of his experience has been in signing academy players and
you have Alex Davies, who's been promoted to head of recruitment, he's been
chief scout. And then you've got Robbie Evans, managing director, who comes
from a background in data and strategy with the 49ers and all that. So, people
are asking, where the football men are?
"I think the phrase 'football men' is a funny one,
because there are men who've been in football for a very long time who I
wouldn't trust with signing a player for my Monday night football session, let
alone a squad rebuild for Leeds United. And there are men who've been in
football but not played football who really know their stuff when it comes to
recruitment, what you need, how to harness data, how to harness scouting. I
think there's a little bit of a perception or fear from the outside that the
nerds are going to take over,” Smyth added. "I don't think that's how it's
working at Leeds.”
How are players scouted and signed?
“From my understanding, they have a bit of a - I don't know
if you want to call it a football committee because I don't like that phrase
either - they have different elements when it comes to decision-making and you
have your scouts and scouting department, you have your data analysts and you
have Farke and his coaching staff. And they bring targets together, most coming
from scouts, second most probably being identified by data and the numbers,
looking at profiles, who's available, this is what we want, who matches that
profile. And then you have players Farke knows from Germany, Gruev and Tanaka
spring to mind as two players he was previously very keen on and ended up
getting to Leeds. They all have a conflab, they draw up the profiles, they have
a look at these players, they have a look at the data and the video and if
everyone is agreed that this is a going concern, they press ahead to make a
deal. They make a shortlist, probably between five and ten per position and the
one or two they really like - so you'd say Diarra is probably in the one or two
in that position - then Adam Underwood takes the deal and tries to make the
deal with the club that they're trying to buy from. Farke's got his input. I
cannot foresee any scenario where a player has been unearthed because of his
numbers, they've looked at him on the video, thought he's looked good, and
Farke goes 'No, he's not my cup of coffee, type of cake' and Leeds press ahead
- because I don't think that's a realistic scenario."