Joleon Lescott claims Leeds United will need to recruit ‘a lot of experience’ if they are promoted to the Premier League

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Leeds United are currently sitting in the automatic places in the Championship.

Sky Sports pundit Joleon Lescott has warned Leeds that they will have to recruit ‘a lot of experience’ in the transfer market if they earn promotion to the Premier League this season.

The former centre-back thinks that from a managers perspective they are prepared for England’s top-flight, but unlike promotion rivals West Brom, they don’t have that ‘experience’ in their squad.

During their recent Championship encounter, the Whites thumped Albion 4-0 at Elland Road to increase their chances of going up automatically and seriously dent the Midlands clubs hopes of finishing in the top two.

Speaking on the Debate Show on Sky Sports Premier League (06/03/2019 at 10:50 pm), Lescott offered his thoughts on whether Leeds are prepared for the big time.

“Manager wise I would say Leeds [are best prepared for the Premier League],” Lescott told Sky Sports PL. “But personal wise, they won’t have many Premier League players that have played in the Premier League.

“They are going to kind of recruit a lot of experience. Then you flip it around and go West Brom got loads of Premier League experience, but the manager isn’t as experienced as Bielsa. To have the whole package, not one club who has the whole package.”

Despite being out of the top-flight for so long, Leeds’ DNA and big club status will be able to cope with the pressured environments that may come if they earn promotion.

But having the players dealing with that on the pitch and delivering the goods in the same process is another thing. Striker Patrick Bamford was on the books at Chelsea as a youngster, while Pablo Hernandez has represented Swansea.

Either way, if the Yorkshire outfit are playing in the promised land next term, it won’t surprise many if Bielsa opts to continue playing and building up youngsters.

But before they do that, they must end these final few months on a high, with the supporters well aware that wins in these next few weeks could see them open up a gap on those teams in the play-off places.