Leeds United’s Championship play-off hopes are all but over, and the future of many squad members has to be troubling fans.
Leeds United manager Garry Monk
With Leeds falling so late in the race for promotion, Whites fans will be desperate for the club’s owners to keep the majority of Garry Monk’s squad together while also making a couple of excellent additions in the summer window to give them a better chance of going one better next year.
However, with a number of their star men linked with moves away or likely to attract Premier League attention this summer, it is surely essential that the club show almost immediate ambition in the window to send a message to those thinking of leaving that another promotion push could happen next season.
Players like Pontus Jansson (via The Sun) and Ronaldo Vieira (via HITC Sport) have attracted attention from elsewhere, while Charlie Taylor’s contract is set to expire (via Guardian) and Kyle Bartley, Alfonso Pedraza and Hadi Sacko are among the players only on loan with the Whites, so it would hardly be a surprise if their chances of keeping the trio have also been damaged.
And, of course, it would be a major shock if no Premier League sides were impressed by Chris Wood’s sensational form.
Many of those seven previously mentioned players make up the core of the Leeds side, and losing a number of them would surely be a major blow to their chances of going close again next year, so the club need to do what they can to send out a message about their ambition.
Nottingham Forest’s Zach Clough
And renewing their interest in a former target who joined a Championship rival in January may be a wise decision.
Leeds’ problem in the final weeks of the season has often been testing the goalkeeper and finding the back of the net when they have been applying pressure, so reigniting their interest in Nottingham Forest’s Zach Clough could be a great decision (via The Sun).
The 22-year-old has impressed at the City Ground, scoring four in 13 appearances – nine of which have been starts – despite being barely used in his best position up front. And he clearly has the potential to play at the highest level in the near future.
It may be difficult to convince Clough to move to Elland Road so soon after his Forest switch, but the two teams’ respective positions in the table may perhaps help Leeds’ chances.
The Whites desperately need to give Wood more support up front, and making the kind of offer for Clough that Forest simply cannot turn down may not only see them bag one of the Championship’s brightest talents, but it may also send a crucial message to the current Leeds squad regarding their ambitions for next season.
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