Marching On Together Leeds United Podcast: Summerville says so long…

  • 2 months ago
This week on the Marching On Together Leeds United Podcast, Daniel and Lee discuss the departure of Crysencio Summerville to West Ham United, and what this means for Willy Gnonto going forward, ahead of the opening fixtures of the season.
Plus! Another transfer window update, and debate as to what else is still needed.

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Transcript
00:00Hello and welcome back to the Marching On Together Leeds United podcast. As always I'm
00:21joined by my guest and co-podcast host, whatever you want to call it. It's Lee from the Yorkshire
00:28Evening Post. Lee, how are things today? It's a Monday afternoon.
00:32Not too bad, thank you. Good to see you as always. We're finally there. We can finally
00:37count down to the season, which is literally the next game. All the friendlies are out
00:41of the way. It's been a perfect pre-season of friendlies from a Leeds perspective. Four
00:47wins out of four. Now it's down to the real stuff and it's a case of replicating that
00:53when it really matters. So let's just hope we can do that. But they'll have to do it
00:57without a very, very big player and the division's best player, which is what I'm sure we'll
01:01talk about first. Yeah, it's finally happened. We've spoken a lot about it in recent weeks,
01:07of course. They went into that Valencia game at the weekend. And to be fair to that, we'll
01:12briefly mention it was a good 2-1 win for Leeds against a good Spanish side. But of
01:18course, the main news of the last few days has been the departure. I was about to say
01:24the inevitable departure. And to be fair, we did speak about it a lot in terms of whether
01:27it was going to be here or not. So given that Leeds didn't go up, you always thought it
01:31was a risk and a big possibility. And eventually it has happened. Kwasensiw Somerville has
01:35departed Leeds United for West Ham in the Premier League. A deal, according to, I think
01:41it was your colleague Graeme Smith, did he say around the £25 million mark?
01:46In excess of £25 million, yeah. And there'll be bonuses and stuff and whatever that could
01:53bring the deal up a bit further. So obviously, the jury will be out and everybody will be
01:59in discussion over whether or not Leeds got a good deal there. I think the feeling was
02:03always that maybe it was worth a bit more than that. But this is the transfer window,
02:08isn't it? And it's never straightforward.
02:10Well, yes, that is it. It's obviously a big blow to Leeds. There's no two ways about it.
02:17Championship play of the season from last year and obviously had been in some pre-season
02:23activity for Leeds this summer. You thought, well, you know, we got to last week and we
02:28thought, OK, it hasn't happened yet. We're now a week away from the season starting,
02:31but it has happened. So it is a big blow for Leeds. I presume the main priority now is
02:36just finding a replacement as soon as possible.
02:38Yeah, it has to be, yeah. I mean, when you say the inevitable departure of Somerville,
02:45I mean, I think, you know, you're not far wrong, really. I mean, I think when Leeds
02:49lost the playoff final, that's certainly how it felt anyway. I think most people would
02:53have just sort of understood and thought, well, that would be the end of Cricencio Somerville.
02:57Obviously, you hoped someone like Archie Gray would have stayed. And I think that Somerville
03:02was probably earmarked almost as the one that would probably go and sort of settle the PSR
03:07issue straight away. But obviously, the offers didn't come in that early and it ended up
03:11being Archie that went instead. But so that obviously, you know, kind of like sort of
03:15held the balance sheet, so to speak, a little bit. But it meant that Leeds didn't need to
03:20sell as such. But I mean, when you've got a player like that, obviously, who, you know,
03:24is quite clearly destined for bigger and better things in terms of like a higher level than
03:27the Championship. Let's hope Leeds can get to the Premier League, obviously, this next
03:30season. Then it was always going to be very hard to keep him, especially when there's
03:33clauses in the contracts. And to all extents and purposes, West Ham activated a clause
03:38in his contracts, which I think became apparent following Leeds' relegation. So, you know,
03:42almost not much you can do about it. And, you know, I think Cris Enzio would have been
03:46more than happy to have stayed at Leeds had they gone into the Premier League. But obviously,
03:49they're not a Premier League club. And when, you know, when any Premier League club come
03:52knocking, then obviously, it's going to be extremely tempting, isn't it? And a five-year
03:55deal with an option for another year at West Ham. So good luck to him. I mean, I don't
03:59think he goes with that. Sometimes you can get departures and there's a bit of, you know,
04:02a bitter exit, you know, kind of thing. But I don't think there's any of that. I don't
04:05think there's particularly any of that with Archie. And I don't think there's any of that
04:08with Somerville either. I think it goes with everybody's best wishes. I think people understand
04:11the game and they know that, you know, you're sort of very liable to lose a player like that.
04:16He was the Championships player of the season. And I think, you know, obviously, you can
04:20analyse it and assess it in all different ways. But I think he probably was the best player in
04:23the division. I think that's probably about right, really. Archie Gray might have been
04:26the player with the most potential, but that's a different ballgame. So, yeah, so he's gone now
04:30and you wish him all the best. But obviously, you know, from a Leeds United perspective,
04:33which is what we're here for, it's, you know, about the Leeds team. And quite simply,
04:36you're totally right. I've hit the nail on the head. 20 goals, including the playoffs,
04:39and four assists, sorry, nine assists last season. And that needs replacing. You know,
04:44that's not a small amount. He was up there with the division's top scorers. So,
04:48Leeds have got other options out wide. I mean, even now, when you go through it and look at
04:52first choice 11 bench, there are lots of options. But I mean, that's, you know, a major player,
04:57the best player, really, the best attacking player gone. And so, obviously, now it's a
05:01case about replacing him. We'll come to that, towards that, in terms of, you know, who they
05:05might be looking at and stuff. But yes, that's the end of it now. It was almost very, as you say,
05:10every week, it was like, you know, can Leeds hold on to him? And the longer it went on,
05:15especially after Archie, you know, Sale, you thought, sort of thought, maybe this might
05:18happen and they could go into the season with him. And that would have been, you know,
05:21a frightening prospect for other teams trying to deal with him. But yeah, he's moved on now.
05:26It did feel a bit inevitable, it has to be said. And I fully expect him to be a big success in the
05:30Premier League. But it's no given, obviously, you know, he's been in the Premier League before,
05:33he was a bit younger then, obviously, and didn't really, you know, tear it up. But I mean,
05:38that's probably to be expected when he was so young, a different player now. And yeah,
05:41I fully expect he'll be a very, very big success at West Ham and all the best to him. It's been
05:45a pleasure covering him and Leeds have lost another very, very good player.
05:48Yeah, it has been a sort of two big departures for Leeds so far. Of course,
05:52you mentioned Archie Gray there, you mentioned Atenzio Somerville.
06:07One of those players is, of course, Willy Nonto, who we've also earmarked as one of those ones who
06:13could have gone this summer, he still remains at the club. Perhaps not the figure that Somerville
06:19was last season, given the fact that he had Dan James competing for his side of the team a lot of
06:24the time, whereas Somerville was sort of always nailed down on the other flank. So it perhaps
06:32wouldn't be as big a blow, but now that Somerville has gone, you think losing him as well would not
06:36be good at all. So where do we stand on Willy Nonto? I mean, obviously, now that Somerville's
06:44gone, is it a case of, he is more likely to stay or do you think it's a chance that he could go?
06:53Yeah, I honestly think you can look at it both ways with this, because I think you can look at
06:57it, one way you can look at this is, you know, Krysenzio Somerville's now gone, so obviously
07:01it's a gaping big hole on the wing and, you know, Nonto now becomes one of the first-choice starters
07:06out wide, you know, and you're probably talking Nonto on one side and Dan James on the other at
07:10the moment, as things stand. And that wasn't the case last season, obviously, you know, transfer
07:14requests at the start of last season looked like it looked like he'd go, it reintegrated back into
07:18the squad, so it's far from straightforward, but all that has to be taken into consideration. But,
07:22you know, even so, only 22 starts in the league last season for Nonto and with 17 from the bench.
07:27And, you know, put simply, if he stays put over this, you know, the summer into next season,
07:32then, you know, he'll probably start almost every game. You would have thought, I don't see why not
07:35if all things go well. So the first thing you can say is like this presents a massive opportunity
07:39for him if that's the way it goes. The other way you can obviously look at it is that it's no secret
07:44how close those two were. They were as thick as thieves, you know, they're always together and
07:47stuff. You like it arriving at every game and you sort of like, you almost felt a little bit for
07:51Nonto when the team arrived for the game against Valencia, he was there at the end and he wasn't
07:55with his little mate and stuff. And on the pitch, he was sort of like walking around looking a bit
07:58forlorn, but you don't know, it's hard to read into things too much. Was he also walking around
08:02the pitch thinking, you know, this is my chance to shine, you know, to really sort of step up to
08:06the plate because it definitely can be viewed in that way. So there's two ways of looking at it,
08:10really. But from a Leeds United perspective, it's definitely, you know, I don't know about
08:14essential, but I think it's very, very important now that they keep Nonto because if you lose
08:18Somerville and Nonto, then obviously, you know, you're two, you know, very, very good wingers
08:22down. And then all of a sudden, if you're not bringing anybody in, you are starting to look a
08:25little bit light. They are obviously looking to replace Somerville, but you don't want to be
08:29looking to replace Somerville and Nonto. And then it starts, you know, getting into a bit of a
08:32scramble with just like three weeks of the window left and potentially less if he, if Nonto happens
08:37to move on even later than that. Obviously, Everton's interest in him has been well documented
08:42for some time. But the bottom line there is, is that, you know, if Everton want to sign and they'll
08:47have to pay, you know, put up a decent offer, basically, but the one that Leeds will have to,
08:51one that Leeds would then, one that Leeds would have to then choose whether to accept or not,
08:55basically, assuming there's no clauses or anything like that. So he's got a long contract at Leeds as
09:00well. And, you know, the vibe from Leeds was that basically they didn't need to sell after the
09:05Archie Gray sale, even before Somerville. So now Somerville's gone and obviously, you know, upwards
09:09of 25 million received for that. And surely that means that it's even less likely that they would
09:14sell Nonto. So I think if you were summarising, I think the only way Nonto goes is if a very,
09:20very big offer comes in for him, which is like too good to turn down, or the player gets unhappy and,
09:25you know, like, you know, sort of like hands in a transfer request again and says he wants to go,
09:29basically. And that doesn't seem any sign of that really, as I say, you know, he'll be gutted that
09:33Somerville's gone, obviously, but everybody, everybody is, you know, and once the game got
09:37going and stuff and the friendly against Valencia, he was, he was very heavily involved, you know,
09:41very sprightly, definitely looked up for it, you know, full of pace, full of tricks and stuff,
09:45central figure and stuff in terms of like the action and a very, very talented player.
09:49And if people forget, obviously he's still only 20 years old, Willie Nonto. So, I mean, you know,
09:53he could, he could be anything in terms of another couple of seasons under his belt. So,
09:57yeah, he's, at the moment anyway, he feels key, you know, and like, as I say, if he does stick
10:02around, then I'm sure he's a first choice starter and, you know, it could be an absolutely huge
10:06season for him. And, you know, I don't know about sort of like saying, can Nonto be this season's
10:10Somerville, but I mean, that's kind of like the way you look at it, I suppose. And as one person
10:14moves on, it provides an opportunity for somebody else. So, it's interesting to see now how it,
10:18you know, goes with the wingers, as I say, Nonto and James look like the first choice pairing,
10:22but obviously Aronson can play there, Routier can play there, and obviously Leeds will be
10:26looking to bring in another one to replace Somerville, which is what you need though.
10:29You know, you need options. You don't just need two starters and that's it. You need,
10:32you need people fighting for competition. But it's quite clear that Nonto now is a massive
10:37chance for him. Yeah. And, you know, personally speaking, obviously massively hope he stays and
10:40that he sort of really takes off next season because he's definitely got it in his locker
10:44to do that.
10:53We'll move on though to, of course, the first couple of games of the season. It's a, it's a
10:59game against Portsmouth, which we've already mentioned in previous podcast episodes,
11:03that will kick the season off at Elland Road, half 12 on Saturday. And then it's Borough,
11:09which is a bit of a, I mean, do you, from your perspective, Lee, is Borough a small rivalry,
11:15given you're both North Yorkshire teams?
11:18Oh, don't get, don't get me involved on that. And actually one of my best mates is a massive
11:22Borough fan. And, you know, I think he's constantly getting wound up by Leeds fans
11:27about it and stuff about the rivalry, about how Leeds are better and this, that and the other.
11:30So there is definitely something there. There's no doubt about that. But I mean,
11:34nevermind rivalries, I think Leeds need to get through this season and get out of division
11:38really, basically. But yeah, that'll be an interesting one, that cup tie, which we'll
11:40come to in a minute. But first and foremost, Portsmouth, as you say.
11:44Yeah, Portsmouth is, of course, the opening day of the season. And they themselves haven't been
11:49promoted from League One. So yeah, it's a chance for Leeds to kickstart that campaign with a win,
11:55of course, against, let's be honest, a newly promoted side. Leeds will go into this as
11:59heavy favourites, obviously, to win this game against at home. But at the same time,
12:05it is a potential banana skin, I'll say that under my breath. But you'd have to back Leeds
12:13surely, wouldn't you, going into this one? Yeah, I mean, to be honest, actually,
12:16and this is not a no disrespect to Portsmouth and, you know, obviously could end up sort of doing,
12:20you know, another show next week, reflecting on a 1-0 Portsmouth win or even a draw or whatever.
12:24But this is one of those games where Leeds are odds on favourites and strong odds on favourites.
12:29And I can see why. And to be honest, I'm surprised they're not a little bit shorter
12:31in the betting than they probably might be by the time the game kicks off, because it's just
12:35one of those ones where, and I think even Portsmouth would look at it and say this as well,
12:39where everything sort of like points towards them, you know, everything really. I mean,
12:42they've had a perfect pre-season. They've won four games out of four. There seems like really
12:46good momentum going into the season. They seem to have bounced back, you know, from the playoff
12:49final defeat. They've looked good in those games as well. It's not just a case of getting the
12:53results. They've actually looked and played pretty well. Yeah, all right. You know, Archie Gray and
12:57Somerville have moved on, but there's obviously other players there as well. I mean, they've got
13:01a better squad and a better team than Portsmouth. And again, that's no disrespect to them because
13:04they've obviously just come up from League One. And to be fair to Portsmouth, I fully expect
13:09they'll do OK this season. I mean, when a team comes up from the division below, then obviously
13:14quite often that team can be installed as like favourites to go down or whatever. But I don't
13:18think that's certainly not the case for Portsmouth. I think there's about seven or eight teams that
13:23are shorter in the bet and then to go down. They've got a very good young manager in John
13:26Massigno and some decent players. But so, you know, it won't be easy, absolutely. But I mean,
13:31Leeds are at home as well. Portsmouth also have got injury worries as well. News of that earlier
13:36in the week. Jacob Farrell, who they signed this summer, is definitely going to miss the game. So
13:40is Tom McIntyre. So that's two out. Josh Murphy is another one they signed this summer from Oxford.
13:45He's an injury... I think he'll be OK, but he's still an injury doubt. So, you know, it's all
13:48sort of stacking up and they have, you know, definitely there's no beating around the bush.
13:52They've had a disappointing pre-season in terms of results. Losing at Charlton,
13:56a draw of MK Dons and then a 4-0 defeat at home to Wickham. And I remember after that game,
14:00Massigno was pretty seething about it really. And he sort of said, you know,
14:03we can't just play like this one week and then turn it on when we want and stuff. And the only
14:08way he looked at it was that they had time to turn it around. So, yeah, everything points towards
14:13Leeds, doesn't it, Daniel? I think you're totally right. But then this is a championship and nothing
14:16should really surprise you. But I mean, in terms of like, you know, and again, I could keep
14:20reiterating, there's no disrespect whatsoever. You look at the fixtures and if you wanted one
14:24to start off with, then that's a pretty good one at home, you know, against a newly promoted side,
14:27who you would think would take time to find their feet. So no excuses. You know, they've got to go
14:32in there. I mean, they've got four wins out of four now in pre-season, but that means nothing.
14:36It's all about the season itself. And, you know, Leeds were held back by the start they had last
14:40season in terms of the points they got or lack of points over the first few games. And this has to
14:45be three, you know. Nothing's a must-win at this stage of the season. They haven't even started,
14:49do you know what I mean? But it feels like you need to get a win here and get going because
14:52we looked at the fixtures, Daniel, didn't we? And actually, when you go through them, it's not that
14:56easy to start, particularly, you know, when you've got West Brom away on the horizon and Burnley's
15:00not too far away and things like that. So you need to be banking three from this game. And,
15:05you know, it remains to be seen what the team is. I probably expect Matteo Joseph will probably get
15:10the nod. I don't see why not. We talked about this last week, but he got the nod against Valencia
15:1514 minutes later he scored. And I just don't see why you wouldn't have him as your first choice
15:19number nine. It's certainly until Bamford's backhand fully fitting in his rhythm. And even
15:23then, if Joseph hits the ground running, it might be, you know, he might be already established as
15:27that. So that'll be an interesting one to see what happens there. The same in midfield. Ilya
15:32Gruev got the nod over Rothwell in the Valencia friendly. So probably expecting that. To be honest,
15:37you'd probably expect the same team that lined up against Valencia. We said that in last week's show
15:42and I don't see why not. Jadon Bogle went off injured. He'd be the only one he'd be able to
15:46worry about. But I think that was expected to be a dead leg. So, yeah, I mean, look, I mean,
15:50things can change very, very quickly, but there's no doubt there's, you know,
15:53positive air at Leeds. They're looking good. And, you know, they will be expected to kick off
15:59with a victory and they should do, to be quite honest. But should do doesn't always work out
16:04in this game, does it? So we will wait and see and not count any chickens. No, you're very right.
16:10We'll briefly touch on the Borough game, of course, itself, but we'll perhaps look at that
16:13more next week when it's about to happen. So, yeah, it's a League Cup game, of course. Cup
16:19competitions are always important, especially for those in the lower leagues, because, you know,
16:25it's a chance, it's more of a realistic chance at a trophy. So, yeah, it's a tough one, though,
16:32because, of course, you're playing a fellow championship side and I, you know, spoke very
16:35highly of Borough on last week's episode. So, yeah, it's a tricky one. We won't go into too
16:40much detail, but it's a tricky one to start. Yeah, it definitely is. I mean, you know,
16:45apart from being drawn away, like, I mean, it's probably about as hard as a game as I could have
16:49got, realistically, you know, to start off with in the League Cup, because, I mean, I know,
16:53obviously, Borough missed out on the playoffs last season, but they got quite near in the end.
17:06So what we'll do now, we'll move on to, as always at the minute, a bit of a transfer
17:11window update. Obviously, we've already mentioned the sales Leeds have had this window, the high
17:17profile sales. Last week, we mentioned Dejan Ljubasic as a potential transfer target, but now
17:23there's another from Norwich, isn't there? Yeah. Yeah, Jonathan Rowe, yeah. I mean, I think if
17:29Leeds can get him, I think that would be a fantastic signing, but I think it's a big if,
17:33and I don't think it'll be straightforward whatsoever, and sort of, you know, waking up
17:37and seeing the news about that and finding out about it, you know, that's one that sort of got
17:40you quite excited about the prospects of him coming, but mainly also because you know how
17:44good a player he is, really, and how much you will know Norwich will be keen to keep hold of him.
17:49So we'll wait and see what happens with that, but they've obviously identified him as someone who
17:53can come in and, if you like, replace Somerville. I think Daniel Farker was very keen to say after
17:58the Valencia friendly that in terms of replacing Somerville, you can't replace him, basically.
18:06Yeah, I kind of get what he means by that in terms of, like, you're not going to bring somebody in
18:10who's then going to be Championship Player of the Year and get all those goals and assists. I mean,
18:12you might do, you know what I mean, but it's very unlikely to try and replace someone like that.
18:16Also, he was keen to stress that, and obviously we're not talking figures, but we know obviously
18:21it's, you know, in excess of £25 million. He was very keen to stress that just because we sold
18:25someone for that amount doesn't mean we've suddenly got all that pot of money to play with,
18:28you know. We've got, I think as he put it, we've got to pay for the sins of the past and stuff in
18:32terms of, like, you know, balance sheets to sort out and PSR. So they've got us all, like, be savvy
18:37with it, really. And I mean, as we speak now, talk of a £7 million bid going in for Jonathan Rowe,
18:42who's 21 years old, so he's very young, very good age, England Under-21 international.
18:48You know, I think it was 12 goals last season and two assists in 27 starts, but he spent a lot of
18:53that time injured. He had a hamstring injury, was out for 11 games, and but for that he would have
18:57got more goals and assists, I'm sure. So, you know, £7 million for someone like that seems very,
19:02very cheap, really, and I wouldn't expect Leeds to get him for that. So it might be one, if a bid
19:06does go in, they might have to go back in and go again. But the other thing with it is, he's only
19:10got one year left on his current deal, so that obviously changes things a lot. We were led to
19:15believe he's got, there's the option of a second year, so that changes things a little bit. And the
19:19other big thing with this, really, is that Norwich have obviously just sold Gabriel Sarra as well to
19:23Galatasaray for around about €18 million. And they're basically, well, they're not similar players,
19:27but they're both attacking-ish players that can score goals. So it's not rocket science to work
19:32out that if they've sold him, they're not going to be very keen to sell another one of their stars,
19:36especially to a championship rival. So there's a lot to work out with that deal, if it can get
19:41done. But, you know, I think there's a sort of, like, quiet confidence from Leeds that can maybe
19:46get that one done, and if they can, it'd be a fantastic sign-in. And, you know, it's someone
19:51who already knows the division well, and as I say, at that age, I'm sure he'll take a massive step
19:56forward. And I think if they got him, he could probably be their signing of the summer. I mean,
19:58obviously, Rodham's a big one as well. So, yeah, that's the news, really, on that front. There'll
20:02be other people they're looking at as well, but that's just the one that we sort of know about
20:05at the moment. So that's definitely one to keep tabs on. Ljubicic, as you mentioned, yeah,
20:10that's been talked about as well. One bid's already gone in for him and rejected. So I
20:13expect they'll be back in for him or another midfielder. And then the other one that's
20:17obviously emerging is Hugo Bueno, the 21-year-old Spanish youth international left-back at Wolves.
20:24That's someone they're looking at as well, in terms of getting somebody in for a full-back
20:28option, because they do need cover in that position. But again, there's issues with that,
20:32which would be if he came from Wolves, he's already got, I think it's 42 Premier League
20:36games and one assist. So, you know, it's not like someone who hasn't...
20:40No, he's got experience there, isn't there?
20:42Yeah, exactly. So he's not someone you could imagine he'd be wanting to come and sit on the
20:45bench. But I don't think Leeds is the sort of club or team that will give assurances to people,
20:49like, if you come to us, you're a week-in, week-out starter. I don't really think it works
20:53like that. And that was the case with Carvalho and it went for him as well. So that could be
20:56interesting what happens there. And also, I think Feyenoord and Celtic have looked at him as well.
21:00So, you know, both of those two, there's like sort of plenty to sort out in terms of if they
21:04get him in. Well, all three, because Ljubicic as well, obviously the deal got, the offer got
21:09rejected and it sounds like they want to keep him even though he's only got one year left on his
21:13deal. So, yeah, they're the three we know about, but there'll be other targets as well they're
21:17looking at. But what is pretty clear is that, you know, the three positions there, and we mentioned
21:21this in last week's, you know, we mentioned last week that a centre midfielder was something they
21:25needed to get in, a full-back option was something they needed to get in. And we said beforehand
21:29last week that if Somerville was to go, they need to get another winger and Somerville has gone. So
21:34obviously now you're looking at another winger. So if I was to summarise and keep it brief,
21:38I would say sign a winger, sign a centre midfielder, sign a full-back and keep Willy Nonso
21:43and Routier, because we haven't talked about Routier and then Jobs of Gooden and then you
21:47win the league. Well, maybe not, but I mean... Is it that easy, Lee? Is it that easy?
21:52To be quite honest, if they kept that, if they did that and signed a good winger and signed a
21:56good centre midfielder and assigned a good full-back option and kept Nonso and Routier,
22:01you would look at that squad and you would think there'd be something seriously wrong if they
22:06didn't go up, basically, you know. And to be honest, like, fans won't care if it's whether
22:11they go up in first or second. They won't be bothered. They just want to get up in the Premier
22:14League. And with that squad, if that was the squad, then they should be doing that, even without
22:19Somerville and even without Archie Gray. The problem started as if you lose Nonso very late
22:24in the day in the window and, heaven forbid, something happens to Routier. With Routier,
22:29things have gone quiet. Obviously, there was talk of Brighton, Interested in him earlier in the
22:32window. But every time I see him, I think every time anybody sees him, he looks like a player
22:37that's better than the Championship, you know, when he's on song. And so, you know, it's not
22:42difficult to imagine someone coming in for him either. And they need to be careful with that
22:46because he's someone who could be absolutely key from this season. I'm sure of it. He's playing
22:49with a smile on his face. He looks very, very happy. So Nonso and Routier are the two to keep
22:53an eye on, I think, in terms of the talents that they've got that people will be looking at.
22:56And then, obviously, get those three players in as well. So, I mean, three weeks out of the window
23:01and it's not going to be dull. I mean, it's not quite the same as when they went down last season,
23:05obviously, as the season before, in terms of like the ins and outs and people leaving left,
23:11right and centre. You didn't know what were coming or going, but still an awful lot to do
23:14so far. And yeah, it'll be fascinating to see how it plays out. But no, it's not quite as simple as
23:18that, do that and win the league. But they've got the foundations there to be able to do it.
23:26In all seriousness now, the key point now is to make sure these next three weeks
23:31go their way or get it right, basically, because once the window's closed, that's it. And as I say,
23:35if they can go into the new season with something like they've got now, plus those new targets that
23:39we're talking about and keep what they've got, then they should be in excellent shape. No one
23:43wants to play us again anyway, I'll tell you that. We shall see. But until then, we will see you all
23:48next week. Hopefully after Leeds win and as I say, the season will be underway by then.
23:55But until then, we'll see you next time. Bye for now.

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