Leeds United will likely look to fill a hole that became evident toward the end of last season but with a slightly different outlook than last summer
Gabriel Gudmundsson is a key starter at Leeds United(Image: Ed Sykes/Getty Images)
Full-back is arguably the strongest, if not deepest, area of the pitch within the Leeds United squad. Yet there is a need for it to be bolstered this summer.
The arrival and success of Gabriel Gudmundsson means the two flanks are well set when it comes to starting spots with the versatile James Justin – another transfer revelation – and Jayden Bogle battling it out on the right side.
While Justin is a dream for Daniel Farke with his ability to play on either channel or as a wide centre-back, the Whites were stretched at points last season. With Sam Byram a mere squad filler, should one or more full-backs have been absent Leeds often had to play with options maxed out.
This was highlighted toward the end of the campaign, when Gudmundsson and Bogle’s absences saw Justin have to play on the left – not his natural-footed side – and Daniel James as the right wing back.
That they managed to limit Tottenham Hotspur to one goal away and keep a clean sheet at home to Brighton & Hove Albion is a testament to how the back five system lends to Leeds’ strengths. But this defensive effort was more of a coup than well-planned mastery.
Going into next season, the right flank looks set with Bogle and Justin more than ample coverage. However, there is a hole behind Gudmundsson.
Few would class Jack Harrison as requisite coverage anyway but his loan to Fiorentina in January left Leeds without a left-footed back-up and Farke admitted that this was one transfer area the recruitment team were looking at in the winter market.
Harrison looks set to return to Leeds this summer albeit amid a likely exit anyway. Even if he was to stay, United still need an understudy for Gudmundsson.
Gabriel Gudmundsson has been outstanding for Leeds this season(Image: George Wood/Getty Images)
The 49ers are keen to further bolster the academy with fresh talent and Jayden Lienou is an example of their ambitions. Academy staff were delighted to land the left-back from Manchester City last summer and he made two senior matchday squads towards the end of the season.
He has since been called into the Wales national team squad this week by Craig Bellamy, who sees big potential in the 18-year-old.
But it seems clear to most that it would be a gamble to promote him to be the back-up left-back, despite frequently training with the first team last season and even if he is naturally left-footed himself.
Isaac Schmidt, ironically, might suit the wing-back system better than the back four deployed last season. Needless to say, a lot of the transfer direction will be dictated by what formation Farke wishes to employ going forward.
However, Schmidt’s poor loan spell at Werder Bremen, after a worrying pre-season showing with Leeds, means he is unlikely to creep back into Farke’s plans. His aim of nailing down a World Cup spot via the loan to Germany ultimately failed.
Leeds are now at a stage where they cannot take a gamble where the odds are too risky – they need to push on rather than chance their arm. Money from a possible Harrison exit and wages freed up by his and Byram’s departure will make room for a new back-up left-back.
Given that such a player would arrive knowing he would not be first choice means the market narrows; every player wants to be a first-teamer after all.
It lends to the notion that the signing would either be a journeyman, a lower-grade hopeful or a younger – if not teenage – prospect. That someone must be an upgrade on Harrison and Schmidt.
There will be takers for the role but how many will be of the required quality? That is the main crux of the left-back transfer task, and one that might bear more fruit toward the end of the window where agents and players get twitchy as their own club’s transfer operations unfold.
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