Leeds United transfer window Q&A part 1 - club chief on Wilson, PSR and Sunderland comparisons
Leeds United managing director Robbie Evans says they had a bad deadline day but a good window having ‘maxed out’ their spending under Profitability and Sustainability regulations.
The Whites went into the final day of the summer transfer window aiming for one last piece of the puzzle - a right winger who could also play inside and take set-pieces. Over the weekend they were led to believe that Fulham could be persuaded to let Harry Wilson leave and a deal was worked on until the deadline. When the Cottagers decided to keep the Welsh international Leeds were left empty handed, fuelling concerns over the lack of creativity and top flight attacking ability in their forward line. Though Leeds have picked up four points from their opening three games they have not looked dangerous enough in open play and their only goal has come from the penalty spot.
Amid a backlash from supporters over the way the window ended and unfavourable comparisons to fellow Premier League new boys Sunderland, who spent even more aggressively than the Whites, managing director Robbie Evans sat down with the local media to answer questions on deadline day, the transfer window, their PSR position and summer decisions. This is part one.
Deadline day
"The first question has to be [deadline day]. So you didn't even get one never mind two over the line so how do you explain that, why didn't that happen?"
Robbie Evans, MD Leeds United: "It's pretty straightforward in that we had a player targeted, and it didn't come through. We thought we had the right price. We put the offer in above that price, the player was on board. Club couldn't get it done. Their club couldn't get it done. We sent the deal sheet in after being given some indication it could work. But they were also doing three deals at once, coming in yesterday. So Fulham signed 85 million euros worth of wingers yesterday. And whether it was out of time or they just decided not to sell, we don't know. But it didn't happen. Thankfully for us, that's why we did the overwhelming majority of our business before the last day of the window. So we missed that one, we didn't get him and it's kind of that simple."
"From your analysis, then Robbie, how much of a difference would Harry Wilson have made for what you're trying to do?"
RE: "Well, he certainly adds a different element. And part of our approach the entire summer has been to focus on what are the different elements the squad has to have, whether it's in offense, defending, whatever it is. A set-piece taking inside wing, 10 type is the one thing we're still sort of missing, and we'd love to have that to sort of round out the entire summer. At the same time, when you look at a 25-man roster with 10 entrants, I think it's very unlikely that that one thing ends up being the deciding factor. So on the one hand, you'd like to tick every single box, but at the end of the day for us, the 24 guys we woke up with yesterday versus the 25 we could have had, will probably only incrementally change our odds long term, of winning or failing in our goal to stay up."
The transfer window
"So how would you look at the window? How does Daniel Farke look at the window - success? Average? A poor window, because it ended badly? How do you sum it up for the fans?"
RE: "I would say our headline is a bad day at the end of a good window in that when we set out back in May, we had certain targets as far as key positions, key profiles, you know, estimates of the maximum available spend to get towards. And we checked all those boxes. So we brought in all the key players. Got them done early, all the key additions for Daniel, we got our top choice of the players that eventually moved. Every single player we signed was a top choice. So nobody [Igor Paixão and Facundo Buonanotte aside] moved to different clubs that we wanted more than the guys we got. And so in that respect, we feel very positive about it, and it's a bit frustrating to have it end like it ended, because that was the cherry on top for us, it wasn't the pillar that would hold up the window, it was the last bit. And so we wanted one more attacker. We didn't get him. But on balance, we executed our plan early and effectively, and ended the window, frankly, better than I thought we could have done back in May."
"It looks like there was money there for Paixao, Buonanotte, obviously Wilson and others. The perception will be Robbie that you haven't spent all the money that's available. And Paraag said every money available would go on the pitch. Have you spent all the money that was available?"
RE: “Yeah, so unequivocally, we are maxing PSR out this season, this summer. We spent everything we could. If we had gone onto other targets yesterday or onto higher price players back in July, the consequences would have been seen in the current roster, in terms of players we either could not add beyond the guys that got brought in - so the players that came in in August wouldn't have come had those deals been made in July - or you'd see more key players from last year's promotion side having to go. And so for us, there were only a handful of players that were worth even considering making those kinds of sales. And when those top players didn't materialise, we held on to our key players instead.”
"There is the free agent market clearly. So with that in mind, are you looking there still, or is it all about January now, when it comes to transfers going forward?"
RE: "I think whether it's in the window or it's free agent market only, or it's January, it's all about what does the team actually need? What is the opportunity cost, as far as the buy you can't make later on, or the sale you might have to make out of your current roster? I don't think right now there's any need so great that it's worth going to the free agent market to fill it, in part because I doubt the right player is there. It's a great market for injuries. So last year brought Josuha [Guilavogui] on. We had an emergency crisis with injuries. But beyond that, it's probably wait and see. And you know, once we get through the first 10 games, you're eight games from January. And so if we have to evaluate we'll use that.
"But our goal is to avoid January, if possible. So there's a reason we didn't do a big thing in January last year or the year before. The goal is to be done early. And actually we got all of our core guys done before the season even began, for that reason. So not just before deadline day, but actually before August was the goal with the key ones. And so it's there, but we don't see using free agency as a priority because there's only a handful of players we felt were good enough to begin with, and the pool obviously shrinks dramatically when you go from the entirety of the window, or the players in the window to the handful of free agents that are available."
PSR and Sunderland
"Why didn't you sell players early in the window to create PSR headroom?"
RE: "When we met Daniel post promotion in May, unsurprisingly the players that have the highest PSR profit are the ones that are most critical to our success last year and most important for our success next year. So rather than sell them preemptively on the expectation of having somebody for whom that capital could be better deployed, we ticked off all of our highest priority boxes first and foremost. So we had our early signings, and then if the big fish that were more expensive had come along, we could react and make sales at that point in time. But we didn't think it was wise to lose those players just in case that capital was required, because I think that having those guys in the team right now, the quality they bring, the continuity from last season, the familiarity with Daniel's strategy and his process, adds a ton to our squad, and so unless they were enabling something truly unique and differential I'd rather have them here."
"How can Sunderland spend so much more money than Leeds United?"
RE: "So on, PSR, as mentioned before this, unequivocally, we are maxing out PSR this season, just as last season and the season before, and that is something that would be verifiable when the accounts come out, whenever they come out. There's no point in trying to lie about that. As far as the relative aggression or ambition financially between Leeds and Sunderland - as a sports business nerd, lifelong sports business nerd, they are fascinating, dueling case studies. So Sunderland has, in my view, the perfect storm in a good way of creating PSR room. Between the combination of, as far as I'm aware, little or no operating loss last two seasons, very low wage bill, gets promoted, sells their top talents for 10s of millions, and now is effectively carrying no prior losses and a player sale profit in the Premier League, where they have a 48,000 person stadium waiting for them to sell out every game.
"Those conditions, as far as I'm aware have never existed in the history of PSR. So my guess is that Sundaland has the highest, so called cap room in the history of PSR, and they have been very aggressive in that which they deserve a lot of credit for. That happened as a part of their long term plan, right? Building up from a youth movement.
"Leeds comes from almost the exact opposite position. Last year, Leeds had to get promoted because of the level of past player investment, wage bill, etc, so we doubled down on as much quality as possible last season to maximise our promotion odds. We've carried a big wage bill two years ago, a big wage bill a year ago, as you all know, we lost roughly £60m pounds in our company's accounts record in fiscal year 24. That loss is inside of our three year PSR window. For some perspective, between two years in the Championship and a one year in the Prem, you're allowed PSR losses are £61m pounds. So those numbers are very similar, meaning this year we have to operate very efficiently to make our three-year window work.
"Within that we have frankly been able to get more done through a combination of aggressive contracting and commercial success and other elements to maximise our spending this season, to get more player quality in than expected. But we are in almost entirely different circumstances from Sunderland, even though I know they're being compared to us because we're both promoted sides, from a broader, long-term financial perspective, they're almost complete opposites in terms of how they're entering this particular year from a PSR perspective.
"We don't talk about cash in here at all, because everyone assumes that cash is infinite and that we'll max out PSR. And that is my objective every year, to max out PSR, irrespective of the cash requirements to do so. We're injecting tons of cash in this club, far more than any ownership group has before. But that's not the solution. And the reason I often mention, you can check the accounts and they come out, because we understand that PSR is very opaque. For the average fan, it can become this scapegoat or boogeyman to serve whatever purpose it has to serve in the narrative of the club. So rather than let it be some kind of fungible shadow scapegoat, I want to keep reminding folks you could just check the record when it comes out. These are all verifiable facts."