A good transfer window or not?

[weasel]

We should have got James permanently, he was Bielsa's main target, we should have made sure that we got him.

Whether that meant £8mil up front or whatever, its about backing your manager.

If we did quibble over the loan fee (and we may, lets be honest we very well may) then thats very poor from us.

It definitely seems like it was Swansea who kept changing their demands. By all accounts we were happy to pay £5m up front and seemed to keep accepting their new terms. As I put elsewhere it seemed they wanted to keep stalling the deal in the hope they would get other deals done instead. As such not a lot we can do and it seems Bielsa wanted this player over any other and Swansea seemed to indicate they were willing to sell so there was no need to abort this deal and go for another. If Swansea had pulled the plug earlier then maybe but they didn't as they couldn't in case their other deals fell through. The only lesson to be learnt is to be wary of Swansea.

we should have done more to get Johansen (Norwegian agent confirmed we enquired)

Not sure the word of an agent is to be trusted - very easy for them to say Leeds showed an interest simply to generate other interest.

[Clacton White]

A keeper from Real Madrid and a talented youngster, I think we've done alright this window. And no jewels sold. From what I've seen, only moneybags WBA have strengthened, and that was probably always going to be the case with them. Notoriously difficult window to do business in, so I'm not going to grumble with our outcome.

I think you'd find WBA fans would say their board is anything but generous with money so would argue about the moneybags thing, they'd say totally the opposite in fact , arguing also its why they came down in the first place - no investment. Having said that I haven't looked at their ins and outs in transfer window .
From Leeds perspective a mixed bag , unlike the last few money hasn't been thrown away willy nilly on a multitude of cheap foreign strikers who probably will never make the grade . Casillas I reckon is just what was needed, don't know a lot about the Polish midfielder , BUT I think a few spots could have been strengthened - a lass striker or a defender - given injuries and suspensions . I hope the right thing is done and what the club has can do the business , the James thing was disappointing , but that's Swansea screwing Leeds up big time . I get the feeling its all a deliberate calculated thing on Swansea's behalf .

[HarryofOz]

West Brom - who are the leading goal-scorers in the league - have spent their money on attacking players. Has that given them the boost in the right positions to make a stronger challenge for promotion?

[Cjay]

It definitely seems like it was Swansea who kept changing their demands. By all accounts we were happy to pay £5m up front and seemed to keep accepting their new terms. As I put elsewhere it seemed they wanted to keep stalling the deal in the hope they would get other deals done instead. As such not a lot we can do and it seems Bielsa wanted this player over any other and Swansea seemed to indicate they were willing to sell so there was no need to abort this deal and go for another. If Swansea had pulled the plug earlier then maybe but they didn't as they couldn't in case their other deals fell through. The only lesson to be learnt is to be wary of Swansea.



Not sure the word of an agent is to be trusted - very easy for them to say Leeds showed an interest simply to generate other interest.

Two sides to this imo, I'm sure Swansea messed us about but i do think we messed them about to tbh, i dont think we are blameless here.

Other journalists are indicating we arent, Phil Hay obviously has to take the Leeds side but there are national journalists who are indicating we did mess Swansea about to, they have no reason to show bias either way.

I think we could have done more, £1.5mil loan fee, just pay it upfront from the start surely?

Why sit around waiting from 6pm? At the very least we are naive and a bit cheap.

The agent said this after the event apparently, Ibai Gomez also said we did enquire about him to.

Just find it annoying that we for whatever reason have allowed MB to have less bodies available at the beginning of February then he did at the beginning of January.

He must be frustrated to.

If we let this season slip then Radz, Bielsa and Orta will have a lot of explaining to do.

[Sara]

a lass striker or a defender

Get the girls on!

[Cjay]

West Brom - who are the leading goal-scorers in the league - have spent their money on attacking players. Has that given them the boost in the right positions to make a stronger challenge for promotion?

I think so.

Replaced Barnes with Montero and Murphy, two good options to add to Gayle and Rodriguez.

Johansen though is the key, absolute masterstroke there.

Proven leader, proven goalscorer and creator to provide the ammo for that talented WBA front line.

If that WBA squad clicks then they will catch us, thats what worries me, as well as we have done they arent far behind us, that squad is Championship winning quality.

[HarryofOz]

I think so.

Replaced Barnes with Montero and Murphy, two good options to add to Gayle and Rodriguez.

Johansen though is the key, absolute masterstroke there.

Proven leader, proven goalscorer and creator to provide the ammo for that talented WBA front line.

If that WBA squad clicks then they will catch us, thats what worries me, as well as we have done they arent far behind us, that squad is Championship winning quality.

Fair enough, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[1964white]

Yes Barnes may have gone which is/was a big blow but they made three excellent acquisitions last night.

Blimey I didn't notice these signings Gurj.

Stefan Johansen [Fulhum], Jacob Murphy [Newcastle] & Jefferson Montero [Swansea]

Lets hope they are not instrumental in getting the baggies up at the expense of us.

No messing about there !

[Jay]

Is it still possible for clubs to sign players on loan?

[1964white]

Johansen though is the key, absolute masterstroke there.

Proven leader, proven goalscorer and creator to provide the ammo for that talented WBA front line

That one is the sickener for me CJay, one we should have pursued.

[1964white]

Is it still possible for clubs to sign players on loan?

No Jon

[1964white]

Just find it annoying that we for whatever reason have allowed MB to have less bodies available at the beginning of February then he did at the beginning of January.

Doesn't make any sense whatsoever with possible fatigue/injuries/suspensions as the season draws to a close

[Cjay]

That one is the sickener for me CJay, one we should have pursued.

Me to.

Beggars belief in our most important window in years by Radz own admission we put all our eggs on Dan James.

[Cjay]

Doesn't make any sense whatsoever with possible fatigue/injuries/suspensions as the season draws to a close

It doesnt.

Whatever the whys and hows of the Dan James deal.

Radz and Orta had months to get the targets to replace Saiz and baker and give Bielsa the winger he has wanted since the summer.

They didnt, if we dont go up that will be why in the end imo.

[Clacton White]

Get the girls on!

Oooooops

Mind you ...........

I missed a "c" .....should have been CLASS striker The error somehow seems better though .

[lufc1304]

Bielsa said at yesterday's presser something along the lines of James being an important signing, if it happens, but he'd deal with it if it didn't go through. That's what has ultimately happened and he will deal with it. Yes, we haven't replaced Saiz, but he wasn't exactly setting the world on fire before he left, was he? WBA have parachute payments to cushion the blow of taking punts that don't work out. And they are punts, no matter the pedigree of the players involved. Changing clubs doesn't always work. This is not me blindly supporting our heirarchy, and maybe Radz is a tightwad (do any of us really know the financial position of the club?), but take a read of Adam's post on the window 5 years ago to see how much we've moved forward. I'm happy to put my faith in Marcelo and the players that have got us to a point where we can moan about whether or not this window has cost us auto promotion. This time last year, we were wondering where the next win was coming from.

[weasel]

Jeez we have some right moaners on here. Moaned before the window that we'd sell our best players - we sold no-one. Moaned that we wouldn't sign anyone - we signed a keeper that has played at the highest level and cost a fair bit to get given we are paying huge wages and he has a long contract. We miss out on signing the only other player that Bielsa wanted because Swansea f*ck us about yet they'd rather blame our board. Think this site should be retitled Moaning On Together!

[Cjay]

Jeez we have some right moaners on here. Moaned before the window that we'd sell our best players - we sold no-one. Moaned that we wouldn't sign anyone - we signed a keeper that has played at the highest level and cost a fair bit to get given we are paying huge wages and he has a long contract. We miss out on signing the only other player that Bielsa wanted because Swansea f*ck us about yet they'd rather blame our board. Think this site should be retitled Moaning On Together!

“First I’ll see what are the possibilities to bring in players – what kind of players the club can add to the team, and if they are better than the players we have. I can’t ignore the fact that we lost players in the last few weeks.”

“We’re lacking 10 players. If the club can bring in players, we’ll take them only if they are better than what we have. 

Sorry mate its a myth James was all Bielsa wanted, James was all he was going to get based on what the club offered him but the man wanted players in.

This isnt about moaning its about what the manager wanted and didnt want.

He wanted players replaced he said so himself but only if they were vetter then what we lost.

Better then Baker better then Saiz better then Blackman etc.

To think Bielsa didnt want replacements is madness, he isnt thick.

[whiteswan]

Get the girls on!

You beat me to it Sara. I was gonna suggest we raid Leeds United Ladies

[lufc1304]

Maybe MB did want more than we got in, Cjay, but the key thing was better than we have/had. Ok, better than Baker wouldn't be hard, but finding another Saiz within our financial constraints wasn't going to be a walk in the park. I genuinely don't know, but would be interesting to see how many of our rivals (say top 10) really strengthened other than WBA. I don't mean fat Fwank bringing in somke footballing pensioners, I mean proper statements of intent. I don't think it's many. This is a notoriously difficult window to do business in; unless clubs have money problems or have out-of-favour players they want rid of, it's not easy to get the right player(s) in. Again, this is not a defence of the board, but all parties have to be in agreement for sales to happen, and to simply say that the club didn't try or didn't try hard enough is taking a bit of a stab in the dark. The James thing was messy, no doubt, but I think we know where the bulk of the blame lies there. The lad's agent said as much, did he not?