Leeds United lose immediate ground over signing ‘superb’ player after play-off final defeat

Had Leeds been promoted, the focus would have largely been on who was entering the football club and not who was leaving.

Instead, multiple reports now suggest that Leeds will look to retain some of their key starters, with BBC journalist Rory Smith tipping Crysencio Summerville, Willy Gnonto, Archie Gray and Georginio Rutter for the exit door.

Leeds currently owe £190m in unpaid transfer fees and the latest set of accounts released suggests just a third of this will need to be paid before June 30.

This would have been the case even if Leeds had been promoted, however due to the large increase in Premier League television money, it would not have had to come through player sales.

Leeds had already begun to be linked with a number of potential targets should he move up, with plans clearly in place for that scenario.

Borussia Dortmund right-back Marius Wolf was among them as Leeds had been seen as a realistic option had they been in the Premier League. Gent centre-back Jordan Torunarigha was also mentioned last week.

Perhaps the most high-profile link of all, however, was a sensational potential return for Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips.

Leeds had seriously considered bringing Phillips back to Elland Road if he had gone up, with Sky Sports this morning reporting he was the most likely destination.

However, after Leeds’ defeat, they immediately lost ground in the race for the “terrific” 28-year-old, with Everton now leading the queue.

City are willing to send Phillips out on loan again after his failed spell at West Ham United in the second half of the season, but on his wages he won’t be in the Championship.

Who can Leeds look to instead?

In truth, Phillips isn’t exactly the kind of midfielder Leeds should be looking at this summer.

Unless big money offers come in for Ethan Ampadu, Ilia Gruev or Glen Kamara, Leeds are very well stocked in that position right in front of the back four.

However, with none of these players finding the net in the regular season in the Championship, the only type of midfielder Leeds should be looking at is a goalscorer.

Once the goals started to dry up for the attackers towards the end of the season, Leeds simply had no other goal threat in the rest of the pitch, which is simply not good enough for a team chasing promotion.

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