Carlton Palmer warns Leeds owner Whites won’t ‘do a Wolves’

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Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani hopes to emulate Wolverhampton Wanderers’ success next season.

Carlton Palmer has warned that Leeds United will fail to emulate Wolverhampton Wanderers’ success without extra investment from owner Andrea Radrizzani.

Radrizzani is keen to follow in Wolves’ footsteps, having seen the Molineux side cruise towards the Championship title after leaning on super-agent Jorge Mendes during the summer transfer window.

Wolves paid a club-record fee of around £16 million to sign Ruben Neves from Porto, and added his Portugal colleague Diogo Jota on a season-long loan from Atletico Madrid.

Both players are said to earn substantial salaries at Molineux, which dwarf those of their Leeds counterparts.

And speaking to Proper Sport on Thursday, former White Palmer urged his old club to ditch their modest budget if they want to compete next season.

“Leeds are a massive club. I was there only a few weeks ago watching them against Bristol City and the support is immense, it’s phenomenal. Thirty-thousand on a Sunday, four o’clock, when the game’s live on TV. It is frightening,” he said. “But they’re not paying – I think their top wage is £15,000 a week. £15,000 a week now in the Championship, especially the top Championship sides, is peanuts.

“So unless they’re going to start competing and paying twenty-fives and thirties [thousand pounds] and more than that for players, then they won’t be able to do a Wolves because they won’t be able to attract the players.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic club and any player who has the opportunity to go and play for Leeds United should go and experience the feeling.

“But the chairman shouldn’t be coming out and having sour grapes. He’s got a lot of work to do with that team, it’s not a promotion winning team, it’s not a play-off team in my opinion. They’ve got some good players and they’ve got something to work with but they’ve got to put the investment in.”

Radrizzani has sanctioned the signings of 17 first team players throughout his 10-month reign as Leeds’ sole owner, many of whom are on long-term contracts – something which manager Paul Heckingbottom has admitted could hinder his hopes of overhauling his squad this summer.