Leeds United open January transfer window with striker deal

Yesterday 18-year-old Spaniard Mateo Joseph Fernandez signed a three-and-a-half year contract after joining from Espanyol.

The Elland Road club’s first January signing is not one of the first-team reinforcements most supporters are hoping for after an injury-hit first half of the season exposed the shallowness of their squad, but does demonstrate their ongoing commitment to strengthen the strata underneath.

Fernandez has impressed in Espanyol’s junior sides, rising to B team level, and might even have been playing first-team football by now had he been willing to sign an extension to a contract which was in its final months.

He reportedly has a £1.3m buyout clause, meaning Leeds have been able to sign him now for what by the terms of top-level European football is an absolute pittance.

Adding to the attraction is Fernandez’s English parents, avoiding work permit issues.

Since winning Catergory 1 academy status in the summer of 2020, Leeds have embarked on a recruitment drive which has bought a host of talented youngsters in to be developed as future, rather than ready-made, first-teamers. Joe Gelhardt – a £1m signing from Wigan Athletic 18 months ago – is now supplementing the first-team forward line in the absence of Patrick Bamford and Rodrigo.

The 19-year-old already has a goal and an assist in his maiden Premier League season.

Cody Drameh, Crysencio Summerville and Sam Greenwood have also made top-flight debuts this season after being signed as development players, whilst Leeds honed Charlie Cresswell from a young age.

In previous seasons teenage signings Illan Meslier and Pascal Struijk cemented themselves in the first team.

The only issue with the policy is it takes youngsters – like many senior signings – a long time to win the trust of coach Marcelo Bielsa, but the way he treats his first-team squad means his bench has been full of them for most of the season.

The Argentinian believes he should only have 18 senior players – 16 outfielders. It has largely served Leeds well in his first three seasons, producing a tight-knit and versatile group which understands his methods, but this season injuries and Covid-19 have hit the squad badly. Liam Cooper and Kalvin Phillips are not expected to play until March with hamstring injuries. Hamstring and ankle problems have limited Bamford to five league starts and there is not really a like-for-like replacement with Rodrigo, Dan James, Tyler Roberts and Jack Harrison asked to fill in between injuries and illness.

The Leeds hierarchy and its coach share a suspicion of January transfers and chief executive Angus Kinnear warned in Sunday’s match programme “we should not underestimate the challenge of securing talents who can meet Marcelo’s exacting standards and have the immediate impact that is required this season.”

Leeds have been linked with a loan for Chelsea’s unfulfilled midfield talent Ross Barkley, who has made one Premier League start in the last two seasons.

If even half the Under-23s signed in the last 18 months fulfil their potential, Bielsa’s eventual successor should have a far bigger group of players to chose from, but with Newcastle United certain to strengthen in this transfer window, Burnley’s record of dragging themselves out of relegation trouble and Watford’s of changing manager, supporters will not want to see the present first-team squad standing still.