Leeds United may have a very busy summer ahead of them.
The Whites look to be headed to the Premier League, sitting pretty at the top of the Championship with just four games to go, and with a huge financial windfall headed their way if they do go up, it may soon be time for Andrea Radrizzani to get his chequebook out.
United haven’t had the best fortune when it comes to signing new players over the past couple of seasons, and the blame has to at least partially lie at Victor Orta’s feet.
The Spaniard has headed up the recruitment team at Elland Road for the past few years now, and while he has knocked it out of the park with some arrivals such as Liverpool-linked Ben White and their leading assist-maker Jack Harrison, there has also been a fair share of flops.
Two players that immediately spring to mind when you think of recent Leeds flops are Izzy Brown and Jean-Kevin Augustin. Both men arrived on loan but barely got a look-in due to their substandard fitness levels.
Augustin came in and was almost immediately criticised for not being up to scratch physically, and unfortunately, a string of injuries would hamper him, meaning that even with a three-month break he wasn’t able to get up to speed, eventually being sent back to RB Leipzig before the season even concluded.
Brown was a similar story, joining with a serious knee injury that he never really recovered from, playing just 11 minutes for the Yorkshire club last season, before returning to his parent club.
Now, both of these men are quite obviously talented, Brown has seven assists in 25 appearances this term, while the Frenchman has scored goals in the Champions League.
Unfortunately, the timing of these two deals turned them into poor transfers, and that is a trap that Leeds can’t afford to fall into again.
To put it bluntly, Orta and his team need to perform more due diligence on potential signings upon the club’s ascension to the Premier League because signing more big-money crocks after promotion could see United swiftly sent back to the Championship.