If Leeds United's new investment is delayed by Brexit it should not have much impact on January plans

But given the way coach Marcelo Bielsa and director of football Victor Orta like to operate, a few more months are unlikely to radically alter their mid-season plans.

Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani has made no secret of the fact he is looking for extra investment and that Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), the owners of the French club, are one of the groups he is speaking to. He was spotted in the crowd at PSG's 1-0 Champions League win at home to Brugge earlier this month.

QSI chairman and PSG president Nasser Ghanim al-Khelaifi is a close friend and business colleague of Radrizzani. Al-Khelaifi is chairman and chief executive officer of beIN Media, the successor to Al Jazeera, while Radrizzani owns Eleven Sports.

Representatives of Leeds and QSI are said to have held “positive talks” recently, with more planned this week, but a conclusion is not thought to be imminent.

Uncertainty over Brexit and the difficulties facing beIN Sport and Qatari diplomacy are cited as reasons the talks have been dragging on for months.

If the concern over if or how Britain leaves the European Union is not just a haggling tool, the picture is unlikely to become any clearer for some time yet.

The general election on December 12 should give a better indication as to what direction the Government is going to take, although another hung Parliament could further muddy the waters. The EU has agreed to extend the Brexit process until January 31, although the UK could leave on January 1 if a deal had been ratified.

BeIN Sports, which has Premier League and Champions League football in its portfolio, has been subject of a highly-political and long-running piracy operation by beoutQ, which it claims is supported by the Saudi Arabian government. BeIN is banned from operating in Saudi Arabia because of its trade blockade against Qatar.

While extra investment is not to be sniffed at, Qatari money would probably be more of a factor were Leeds to win promotion to the Premier League than in getting them there.

Leeds's transfer budget was tight in the summer because Radrizzani, who bought the club outright in May 2017, concentrated his resources on retaining highly-rated Argentinian coach Bielsa and his coaching staff.

Key players Pontuss Jansson and Kemar Roofe were sold, as was Jack Clarke, who Tottenham Hotspur immediately loaned back.

Of the players who came in, only teenage forward Liam McCarron commanded a transfer fee, thought to be in the region of £250,000, and he is yet to make his debut. Ben White, Eddie Nketiah, Helder Costa, Illan Meslier and Jack Harrison joined on loan, the latter for a second time.

Although White has been an instant success as Jansson's replacement, the others have discovered Bielsa usually likes to take time bedding new recruits into his idiosyncratic ways.

“Helder is still in an adaptation process. Teams and players need habits you can get from playing,” explained Bielsa after Portuguese winger Costa's 16th appearance, at Sheffield Wednesday in late October.

That was also the game where Nketiah appeared to finally convince his coach he was ready to start as a lone centre-forward after ten substitute appearances and two League Cup starts yielding five goals. Unfortunately, the 20-year-old Arsenal striker was injured in training days later and has not been available since.

Last January, Bielsa brought Kiko Casilla straight in as his new goalkeeper but his only other signing was a 17-year-old midfielder, Mateusz Bogusz, whose only appearance has come in the League Cup. It has taken until this season for Casilla to find his best form.

Two points behind the Championship leaders after 16 matches, Bielsa's is a squad which needs tweaking, not overhauling, in January. That is certainly the view of Orta, one of many footballing figures sceptical about the mid-season transfer window.

"We took a conservative stance in the summer and we will do so again in the winter," he told Italian website Tuttomercatoweb last week.

"New signings need time. It will be a quiet market for Leeds.

"Only 25 per cent of winter signings are successful, it's incredible."

All of which suggests a mid-season influx of Qatari cash would have more impact on Leeds's morale than their transfer policy.