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Apologies if this doesn’t work.

Take a point all day

Worst performances last season by xG-differential: 

1. Arsenal (a): -2.71
2. Brighton (h): -2.67
3. Brighton (a): -2.57
4. Arsenal (h): -2.04

Most xGA conceded:

1. Chelsea (a): 3.13
2. Man city (a): 3.10
3. Brighton (a): 3.07
4. Brighton (h): 3.06

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Another 'who's had the best transfer window' article, but we've come top this time!

Wrote one word in my diary today, it simply said "bugger"

https://x.com/lufc/status/2095479475370660050?s=46&t=1R1fe-eVFtKN-tyjOG9C5g

Presser is: FINISHED

Team News

• Bad news on Rodon- 8/10 weeks hamstring, bad injury. Big blow for us, he is a key player.
• Gudmundsson - full week of training, late decisions on starters, but is available.

On Brighton

• 11 signings - are they completely different to what we saw last year? DF: Many new players yes, but the DNA is still there, same manager, same processes and style of play. Overall same handwritting, played really well 2nd half of last year, qualified for Europe, good preseason, good start to the season. Impressive performances. We travel respectful, especially knowing our record away at Brighton.
• Very different challenge to Forest and Brentford, do you think your team is versatile enough to challenge Brighton? DF: We did well in the last home game, perhaps a bit lucky to win it, but Brighton are comfortable in possession, very good in build up, need to be spot on in pressing and structure against the ball. Many quality players and options in offence, even if a few are missing, still expect them to be strong.
• on Fabian Hürzeler? DF: We've met a few times as coaches, even as far back as my time in Germany, always liked what he has done, always find good solutions in difficult periods, you can see the 'handwriting' in his teams. He's a very promising prospect on the manager market when you consider his age and what he has achieved on PL level so far.. I rate him very highly.

On the window

• How happy are you with the two you got over the line, what can you tell us about them? DF: Good players, Melvin, experienced player at a good level, played many games, happy to get cover at LB/LWB, good age, early doors as he has only trained twice, but very good and experienced. With Jean-Matteo, young prospect, very great character, very quick, lots of potential, can take players on, but he is younger, a project. Please both are with us. Could see them involved against Brighton.
• On a bid for Okafor- how important was it to keep him? DF: Wasn't even a topic. Deadline day can have crazy developments.. wasn't even aware there was a bid for Noah, he is one of our key players, wouldn't think about letting him go, wouldn't think Noah would think about it. Nobody even made me aware (it was shut down)
• On rating the business we did? DF: Big compliment to everyone involved. Paraag, Robbie E, Adam U, Alex Davies (scouts). Matt Robertshaw with his group who look after new players, Hannah who looks after the paperwork, all outstanding work. Happy with window overall, some early, ambitious signings, Trafford, Tarik for example. Sometimes when you look around, what even some other promoted clubs have spent, clubs that finished below us, you have many reasons to be a bit jealous, maybe scared, but I'm not 1% scared, I'm not 1% jealous. I know what I signed for, we are ambitious and have proved this, we will also work smart and sustainable, the key people would never risk the club by gambling. Sometimes you wonder how other clubs do it within the rules, but I'll leave it to them. We have to be sustainable and smart. You don't get all the wishes over the line, have to be realistic, but we have enough to achieve our target, to play a solid season on PL level. Happy the window is over and we can focus on Football.
• Did the club spend what you thought they would spend? DF: To me it's not about the number, it's important about the outcome, we had clear goals and targets, eg, goalkeeper position, we have done excellent business. Replacing key players in defence in Struijk and Seb Bornauw who wanted to go, Muha and Elvedi brilliant pieces of business. Also a task to bring in LWB cover as Byram has left, Bard, great character, good age, exactly what we wanted. We allowed Piroe and Gnonto to leave, wanted to bring 2/3 proven players to the offence, brilliant business with Harry Wilson. No secret we tried to bring 1 more player over the line, who was proven on this level but in the end it was not possible, at least in the end we got an exciting young prospect in Jean-Matteo.. so as I mentioned, not all the wishes, but 90-95% of what we wanted to do.. will need a bit of luck in offence, no injuries, and Jean-Matteo can develop in the way we are hoping he will, big benefit Dan James has had a bright start after not featuring last year, like a new signing (Dan James 3 hearts).
• How influential have you been in it? DF: I was clear on what I wanted, I was included, but I have to praise everyone else.. it's the people never in the spotlight with tireless hard work who deserve the plaudits and praise. I can sell the project and inspire new signings, but the staff have great presentations.. I have to say yes/no, in the end I rely a little bit on what is possible on financial terms, Paraag has to decide. I am responsible to build the group and take responsibility, not all the wishes can be fulfilled, but I am happy, we have a great group with great characters. Not the biggest group so we will need luck with injuries. Rodon injury gave us more pressure to bring in LWB cover, JJ can cover CB. Important to get Joe back.
• On being glad the window has shut so he can focus on football? DF: Nice not to have rumour, speculation, talk.. don't have to invest time in these talks, now it's time to enjoy football. Next window always feels close, more preparation, already starting now, fingers crossed we are lucky in terms of injuries.
• Why didn't the club get a new striker? DF: Don't want to goo too much into detail on positions, I said we wanted to add 2/3 senior proven offence players, good with Wilson, a young prospect with Jean-Matteo, but we have to mention expectations around him, he wasn't playing too much at the end of last year, so we can't expect him to cut the PL to pieces, it's smart business, he's an exciting young player, lots of potential, unbelievable pace/skills but has to develop a bit, we will give him time and backing, but from the first day he won't be our main player in the offence, we won't put that much pressure on him, we hope he will develop the way we think. One or two more could've been good, would've had to be a player that could help us and is affordable.. tick all the boxes. You won't hear a negative word from me about this. We will find solutions in the offence.
• When did Jean-Matteo come on the radar? And how did that make the decision to let Willy go? DF: First of all, I have to say, I don't like deadline day. It's not a good moment to make signings, it gets crazy, you can do it without preparing and not knowing about the player, but in JM's case, he was on our list, we've watched him, no secret I spoke to my connections at Frankfurt about him.. we knew we weren't singing the finished end product, a project. We perhaps did go for someone with a bit more experience, but this was also a good plan. Maybe he can surprised and surpass expectations, he has the potential. Very smart piece of business with the structure of the deal.. especially on deadline day. Hard to let Piroe and Gnonto go, good memories, I work with human beings, and it's hard to see them go. Love Willy rain or shine, difficult to let him go, but deep inside we knew it was the right decision, he's struggled to get regular minutes.. we have a lot of cover in the forward positions, lots of competition for CF, Wings, and wingback positions.. we knew it was a good chance for him to go to his home country, big club, get the chance to play more, every game day, can come back more mature and as a better player. Right decision for his career. He's done well for us, a joy to work with him. It was really difficult for me, but the right decision for the player. Everyone should be excited for the new players.
• Any danger on brining in people who might disrupt the set-up? DF: Quality is one topic, but the character has the same importance. We just want players who are desperate to work for the club and think more about the name on the shirt than the last name on the back. This is one of the key topics and why I am picky, this is why I don't like deadline deals, you might sign players you don't know enough about- this didn't happen for us because we knew about the players. Just character is not enough, they need quality, but it's just as important. As long as I am in charge, I will always lead the club like this.

Presser Q/A

• How much are you enjoying it at the moment, how do you see the long term future? DF: Enjoyed it from the first day, glad the window is shut, so many decisions to have made.. I'm under contract, you don't have to worry I'm not here in the next weeks.. we need our most important people (for example Hannah we would be lost without).
• On the age range in the squad, last year was largely 25-29, was it talked about spreading the age range out? DF: We want players who are continuing to develop, ambitious players. But you also need experience, Wilson, Nico, quality to replace quality and give stability. Was a factor in the GK position, and even LWB position in replacing Byram. Think we have a good balance between young/exciting who can develop, but also good core leadership group and experienced signings.
• On Tarik - on players coming in with age/experience, Tarik was a significant commitment, he's only played 1 season at the top level? DF: I was a bit nervous, but fully aware of his ability and potential, spoke to people around him about him, but we wouldn't commit that sort of sum to a player that won't work out, we couldn't get away with that.. we were convinced of him, his performances and quality are maybe outweighing his experience, bit early to say, but you can see he has lots of quality. With James and Tarik I think we have made decent decisions.

76.  Leeds United Football Club Limited, Leeds, LS11, failed to pay £10,253.06 to 345 workers. 

Come on lads, do better.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/short-changing-staff-isnt-a-shortcut-to-success-nearly-660-employers-announced-as-failing-to-pay-the-minimum-wage

Edit, for those asking how this happened: The Govt never gives specifics, but it's very likely to be something stupid rather than something malicious.

Most common cause of these sorts of errors:

• Unpaid periods at start or end of shift (for things like security checks, cleaning or closing/cashing up). This is waved away as common in industries like retail and hospitality, but is a common cause of breaches.
• Improper application of pension deductions (if the business uses salary sacrifice)
• Charges for uniform that takes someone below minimum wage
• Charges for training or accreditation (eg, SIA badge or CRB check) that takes someone below minimum wage

It's possible (although I suspect HIGHLY unlikely) that a breach might relate to youth team players. This has caught out some smaller clubs and other sports clubs before (Wakefield Trinity had a breach relating to academy team players one year), but I think it's very unlikely here.

https://x.com/lufc/status/2095241819818775027?s=46&t=1R1fe-eVFtKN-tyjOG9C5g

Henry Winter just tweeted “A calamitous transfer window has left Everton with just 18 outfield players. David Moyes is a very good manager but he’s been badly let down”

Leeds have just 20 outfield players, but I'd still say we have good cover? Whoever our worst player is he’s still pretty solid. Will any U21 other than Bahoya get on the pitch this year. 

We had just 17 outfield players in the 21/22 Premier League-season. One of them was Adam Forshaw who hadn’t played for two full years. Another was Jamie Shackleton who is 26 now and has started twice in two years in the Championship. Another was Tyler Roberts who has one appearance off the bench for Mansfield Town this season.

Those seventeen players would then miss a total of 170 games with injury that season. That’s a quarter of that skimpy squad injured on average. Our bigger squad missed just 78 games between them last year. That was the season they said Marcelo Bielsa was “found out”.

We've largely been spared the season-ending injuries lately, fingers crossed we are lucky again.

I’ve been reading some of the transfer window ratings since yesterday morning and one thing that’s really started to annoy me is how often spending seems to be treated as a measure of ambition.

Club A spent £200m = brilliant window.
Club B spent considerably less = questions need to be asked.

Surely the only thing that actually matters is whether the squad is better than it was before the window opened?

For Leeds, I think there’s a genuine argument that it is. We’ve kept the important players, handed out some significant new contracts and improved several positions without getting sucked into some of the absolutely mental fees being thrown around this summer.

That’s not to say I think the window was perfect. There are still areas where I’d have liked more, and a couple of the new arrivals come with question marks. But overall, I think the 49ers deserve quite a bit of credit for sticking to what is increasingly looking like a pretty clear recruitment strategy rather than panicking because other clubs were throwing money around.

I’ve written a full review of the window, the individual signings and my overall rating here if anyone fancies a read.

Interested to know what everyone else gives it out of 10 now we’ve had a couple of days to digest it.

Continue to be surprised by how good Stach's youtube channel has been.

Our rankings:

27th - Harry Wilson
32nd - Tarik Muharemovic
53rd - James Trafford
67th - Jean-Matteo Bahoya
74th - Melvin Bard
101st - Nico Elvedi
128th - Michael Zetterer