Lee Sharpe has called for Leeds United to splash the cash this summer.
Former Leeds United midfielder Lee Sharpe has told the Yorkshire Evening Post that he thinks the club need to splash around £50million to win promotion back to the Premier League.
The Whites enjoyed a blistering start to this season, but couldn’t sustain Thomas Christiansen’s form, and the Spaniard was sacked in February in favour of Paul Heckingbottom.
Leeds managed just four wins under Heckingbottom in the final months of the season, and the former Barnsley boss isn’t secured just yet, with owner Andrea Radrizzani considering his options.
Director of football Victor Orta has brought in a host of poor signings and Leeds need a successful summer to tee up a promising season, with fans still dreaming of a Premier League return.
Leeds were relegated from the top flight in 2004 and haven’t returned yet, which has been made all the more painful by local rivals Huddersfield Town not only winning promotion to the top flight, but also staying there.
Leeds must set their stall out quickly this summer, and former England and Leeds midfielder Lee Sharpe has offered his view on their situation to the Yorkshire Evening Post.
Sharpe has suggest that it’s all about money and investing in the players to win promotion, as it’s tough to compete against clubs with parachute payments – and called on Radrizzani to spend around £50million on new signings to fund Leeds’ promotion bid, claiming it’s a ‘no-brainer’ given the money that the Premier League would bring.
“I think it’s just about cash,” said Sharpe. “I think it’s about getting the right amount of cash in and getting the right manager in to bring in the right players to guarantee that you are going to get top six to at least give yourself a chance of the play-offs. Otherwise it’s never going to work when you are competing with three clubs that are coming down with parachute payments and against other clubs that are putting big investments into the club – like last season the likes of Fulham and Wolves.”
“It’s a really tough league to get out of and to give yourself the best opportunity you have got to throw some cash at it to get some good people in there. It’s a no-brainer to me to throw 30, 40 or maybe even 50 million pounds at it for the money that would come in return for the Premier League. It’s an absolute no-brainer,” he added.
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