Leeds United's ambitious name-dropping turns heads but Aaronson comments could bite back
More than three months stretched out between the boardroom’s bookends on Leeds United’s summer. Chairman Paraag Marathe fired the starting pistol at the end of May and chief executive Angus Kinnear finally answered some critical questions this week.
It’s an understandable strategy because, as Kinnear said himself during The Square Ball’s interview, any comments from the top, before the transfer window has closed, come with too many caveats and become lighting rods for criticism. What is the sense in commenting on the lack of signings when the manager is already answering that question and there is still time for deals to get done?
Broadly speaking, Kinnear tied up a lot of the loose ends left hanging by the window and the previous 12 months since his last appearance on the fanzine’s podcast. The backbone of the transfer chat centred on the inability to pick up another number 10 option, someone more natural than wingers like Wilfried Gnonto, Manor Solomon and Largie Ramazani.
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It might be exciting to hear targets like Emi Buendia, James McAtee, Gustavo Hamer and Fabio Carvalho, head-turning names in the second tier, but it will be hollow for some sections of the fan base. Names can be dropped, but signatures need to be inked.
It’s encouraging to hear the club were ambitious with the targets they had, but Buendia stood out as an especially fanciful suggestion that was, surely, never going to be realistic at this stage of the player’s career. Kinnear’s answers on the playmaker pursuit will only boost Brenden Aaronson’s confidence too.
The chief executive was effusive in his praise of what the American can do this season, which everyone will hope proves right, but there was an almighty amount of faith put in the 23-year-old. Not only is Aaronson going to need to pick up a lot of the slack through the centre, but if he struggles, for whatever reason, questions will be asked again of the recruitment department.
The ambition in the transfer market was commendable, but Kinnear’s assertion they could not find any available options better than Aaronson is a statement that will be tested from here until May.
Kinnear struck a confident tone on what the future will look like. Despite the recent experience of hitting 90 points and remaining in the second tier, the Whites supremo repeatedly talked about ‘when’ the club will be promoted, not ‘if’.
The lessons of their last experience in the top flight were fleshed out too, setting a blueprint for what may come if they do get over the line next May. Kinnear again pointed to the mistakes made towards the end of Andrea Radrizzani’s tenure.
He said club-wide decisions on recruitment, including the extended payment terms, left the club in a bad place. The players brought in were too speculative. It was important Kinnear acknowledged his own role in that administration, rather than pinning it entirely on Victor Orta or Radrizzani.
If Leeds do win promotion and Kinnear hangs around to steer the ship, there will be a sizeable shift in the route they take. He talked about Brighton & Hove Albion’s four successive seasons of struggle when they first went up, of Crystal Palace’s long road to security in the Premier League.
To underline the difference in approach Kinnear would take, he mentioned Glenn Murray as an example of the type of player he brings to the recruitment department. He feels Murray sums up the type of player you know is going to go in at that top level and grind for you across 38 matches.
Murray was, memorably, someone Orta scoffed at as a prospective target in the January 2020 window for Leeds as they chased promotion. Leeds are in a different place now, with different personnel, and Kinnear would have us believe it’s going to be different when they get promoted again.