Leeds United already have perfect answer to Julian Brandt Champions League transfer concern
The Leeds United transfer target is expected to have offers from clubs higher up the food chain.
Leeds United’s pursuit of Julian Brandt has raised questions over their ability to fend off top-level competition - but they might already have the answer.
As first reported by the YEP on Friday, Leeds are exploring a potential deal for Brandt who is available as a free agent following his Borussia Dortmund exit. The 30-year-old spent seven years at Signal Iduna Park, registering 57 goals and 70 assists in 307 games. He is also a fully-fledged German international and has vast Champions League experience.
That pedigree won’t go unnoticed across the continent, however, and as a free transfer it doesn’t get much better than a player of Brandt’s quality. Leeds expect the attacking midfielder to have his pick of many options, with at least one Champions League club keen on snapping him up. The likelihood is there will probably be more.
Leeds won’t be near the top of the food chain when it comes to Brandt’s options, and the chance to play European football tends to dominate a player’s thinking when picking their next move. It brings more opportunity to test yourself against the best and at 30-years-old, it might offer a final chance to return to the Germany squad for the 2028 European Championships.
There will be no European football on offer at Leeds next season and as a second-year Premier League club, they can’t even guarantee safety. In that sense, picking the Champions League might feel like a no-brainer for Brandt but Elland Road chiefs have faced this challenge before. And won.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin was Leeds’ big-name free agent signing last summer, eventually signing a three-year deal in August following his Everton exit. The striker was mocked on social media for supposedly awaiting an offer of Champions League football. He confirmed the offer came but he chose Elland Road.
What followed was better than anyone expected: 35 Premier League appearances, 14 goals and a return to the England squad for the first time in five years. The previously injury-prone striker missed one top-flight game after mid-August against Chelsea - and that was due to illness.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin decision paid off massively
Would a similarly impressive season panned out had Calvert-Lewin gone to said unnamed Champions League club? Possibly. But the likelihood is he’d have played less and been unable to get into a flow that saw him score seven goals in six games on the way to December’s Premier League Player of the Month.
“I ponder over it sometimes and I look at what's happened over the last five months, how it feels good when a plan comes together," Calvert-Lewin told the YEP in January when quizzed on that Champions League offer. "And the plan's not finished.
”When it came to it, I was free, and I was speaking to different clubs across Europe, and there was the narrative around me that was that.. perhaps I was finished, people would say that I maybe didn't have anything to offer anymore in the Premier League. I had the conversations with people at the club, and then spoke to the manager and I knew in my heart that this was a perfect platform for me to go and prove to myself, but also show the world what I can do on a football pitch."
Brandt’s technical ability is in no doubt but it also must be noted that he wasn’t at the peak of his powers last season. Seven goals and four assists came in 29 Bundesliga appearances, only 17 of which were starts. The experienced creator also has a recent history of small, niggly injuries keeping him from finding a flow.
A sideways move to a club of Dortmund’s level is unlikely to provide that run of starts but Leeds have shown they can do exactly that, while also providing another big platform for exposure in the Premier League. Only time will tell if Brandt can see it that way.