Leeds gearing up for new season with furious transfer activity

Article by Gwyn Hughes

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With all this media frenzy linking players with Leeds United recently, I'm starting to feel a little light headed. It's getting to the stage that a person can't leave Twitter for a second. I have been reduced to one of those people who need to refresh my Twitter timeline constantly, fearing I might miss some important update or some smatterings of information concerning a player I've never heard of joining my team. The new season can't come quick enough!

I got into quite a fluster when I read about Andy Delort had signed for us only to have my hopes dashed by finding out that it wasn't true, and that other clubs were also interested in him. Today I saw a tweet that Leeds were never interested in him in the first place, that it was a Twitter trickster starting a rumour just to get us all excited. It worked by the way. So well in fact that I'm still checking the Internet hoping to find something confirming that he will sign for us. I knew I shouldn't had seen that You Tube video on him!

But this is what Leeds fans have to endure these days. Constant speculation from various sources that we are on the verge of signing a player that will be great for our team. Perhaps endure is the wrong word here. There is also a certain amount of enjoyment in the fact that we are in the hunt to sign players who have quality, albeit potential quality, to improve Leeds and make a decent fist of it come the season. We are all hoping for the same thing. Leeds United to be competing for a chance to get promotion. If we can do it in style all the better. The players we are getting in will have to get results, and I hope that Cellino and Salerno have chosen them not just on their ability but also because they can handle the pressure of being a Leeds United player.

So far we have seen Bianchi, Doukara and Silvestri play, and Beradi in bits, and have been impressed with what we have seen. Zan Benedicic and Nicky Ajose have become the latest additions, and Frederik Sorensen is nearly there. He should sign very soon. By all accounts they are quality players but will they be good enough playing Championship sides? From that perspective they are a gamble but surely they can't be as bad as those players who were wearing the shirt last season? The difference this time is that we now have an owner who can scan a wider field rather than settling with the "billy no mates" of the footballing world. Cellino and Salerno have done their homework and have been busy checking out as many available players as humanly possible. In other words the club can choose who will play for Leeds United at long last.

It is a great shame that we could not secure the services of Viviani and Delort for this season. I think they would have been the icing on the cake. If ever we needed a replacement for Ross McCormack, Delort would have been it. It doesn't matter in my book if he's only played in the second tier of French football. The first tier isn't much cop either. On the You Tube clip I saw, he seemed the complete player, able to knock in decent goals, lay off for others to score, and track back to help out the team. Just the kind of player the Elland Road faithful would appreciate.

I was very impressed with Bianchi against Dundee United. His positional sense was spot on, being able to be available for his team mates at all times. He was able to do this because others were making runs, giving him the opportunity to play forward plays to set up attacking moves. Very Pirloesque. I'm also expecting good stuff from Doukara, another who has plied his trade with lower tier teams but shows plenty of promise.

It promises to be a hectic few days ahead. Cellino is slowly getting there and we have to trust that he knows what he's doing. He's already talking about buying back Elland Road before the rent goes up, a sound financial strategy which will pay dividends long term.

Using the McCormack money for the purchase is genius. He could have splashed that cash on over-hyped players who may well have been duds, just like the many who have managed to get lucrative contracts promising good times ahead. The McCormack money was like winning the lottery because everyone knows that Ross was not worth that amount. Cellino has stuck his neck out to take us over. He had every reason to walk away, like countless other potential buyers have done over the years. The club was in a more perilous financial state than we all realised. Only a madman would ever consider buying the club, and I think we got the only person that would buy it. Cellino is a one-off and we should be lucky he is our owner.

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