It looks set to be a summer of change at Leeds United after their play-off final defeat to Southampton.
Those in Leeds‘ newly formed recruitment team will have been planning behind-the-scenes for both eventualities on Sunday, but it certainly wasn’t the outcome anyone wanted.
Had Leeds been promoted, much of the focus would’ve been on who was coming into the football club as opposed to who goes out.
Instead, however, multiple reports are now suggesting Leeds will struggle to keep hold of several of their key starts, with BBC journalist Rory Smith touting Crysencio Summerville, Willy Gnonto, Archie Gray and Georginio Rutter for the exit door.
Leeds currently owe £190 million in unpaid transfer instalments and the most recently released set of accounts suggest just under a third of that will need paying before June 30.
That would’ve been the case even if Leeds had been promoted, however due to the vast increase in television money in the Premier League, it would not have had to come via player sales.
Leeds lose immediate ground in race for Kalvin Phillips
Leeds had already started to be linked to several potential targets in the event they had gone up, with plans clearly having been put in place for that scenario.
Borussia Dortmund right-back Marius Wolf was among them, as Leeds had been seen as a realistic option if they were in the Premier League. Gent centre-back Jordan Torunarigha was also mentioned last week.
Perhaps the most high profile link of them all, though, was a sensational potential return for Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips.
Leeds had seriously been looking at bringing Phillips back to Elland Road had they gone up, with Sky Sports this morning reporting it had been the most likely destination.
However, following Leeds’ defeat, they have immediately lost ground in the race for the ‘terrific‘ 28-year-old, with Everton now fronting the queue.
City are willing to send Phillips out on loan again after his failed spell at West Ham United during the second half of the season, but with the wages he is on, it won’t be in the Championship.
Who can Leeds look at instead?
In truth, Phillips isn’t really the type of midfielder Leeds should be looking at this summer now anyway.
Unless sudden big money offers come in for Ethan Ampadu, Ilia Gruev or Glen Kamara, Leeds are very well stocked in that position just in front of the back four.
However, with not a single one of those players finding the net during the regular Championship season, the only type of midfielder Leeds should be looking at is a goal scoring one.
Once the goals started drying up for the attackers towards the end of the season, Leeds simply had no other goal threat across the rest of the pitch, which simply isn’t good enough for a promotion chasing team.