This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Ex-Leeds United striker Noel Whelan has suggested owner Andrea Radrizzani has destroyed many names at the club after the Italian admitted to “expensive mistakes” when he took over.
What did he say?
Whelan believes Radrizzani was referring to a few players in the squad when the chairman discussed the deals that did not work out when he first took over. The Italian told The Times: “We are still paying the consequences of my first year because I was inexperienced and we made some expensive mistakes with players”.
The former Whites man told Football Insider: He’s basically talking about the players not in the side. You’re looking at Vurnon Anita, Eunan O’Kane, Laurens De Bock, Jay-Roy Grot, Pawel Cibicki, Ouasim Bouy, [Yosuke] Ideguchi, [Felix] Wiedwald.
“They were all handed long-term contracts, and in some cases, Leeds spent major transfer fees. (Pierre-Michel) Lasogga was also on big money when he was with us.
“There were a lot of deals that didn’t work out. That happens at every club, but I definitely think Radrizzani was too generous with long-term contracts for players who hadn’t proven themselves.
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“He knows that as well. Plenty of them are still at Leeds, or out on loan, because we can’t get rid of them, or find someone willing to pay the same money. That’s embarrassing.”
Poor recruitment
Radrizzani purchased 100% of Leeds United in May 2017, and the club has indeed made slight progress, despite his disastrous debut season where the club finished 13th. Since then, with a heavy wage investment from the Italian, the Whites got back up to third the following campaign, although that is still just shy of returning to the Premier League.
As reported by the Yorkshire Evening Post last summer, Radrizzani intended to increase Leeds’ £15,000-a-week wage bracket, which may have meant signings such as Anita could have been on a lot of money, despite poor performances for the club.
The Dutchman signed on a three-year deal for the Whites in 2017, but was released this September after making just 22 appearances for the club. Likewise was the case with De Bock who has played only seven times for Leeds and has had to be loaned out to the division below instead.
It is no secret that clubs can acquire more players should they up their wage bracket. For example, Adam Rooney sacrificed European football with Aberdeen to play non-league with Salford because of the wage increase. This, as proven with Leeds, does not guarantee success and as Whelan alluded to, paying such high wages for players makes it harder to get rid of them.
Offloading a player who is on around the £15,000-a-week is going to be much harder to sell than someone who is on significantly less. Players may even choose to run down their contracts and squeeze as much money as they can out of the club for their own personal gain.
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In truth, Radrizzani may need to pay high wages for certain players, as is the modern game. But to constantly throw lucrative deals at names who haven’t earned it is a risky move and has already cost the club dearly.