Why Leeds didn't end up signing Cameron Archer

Yorkshire Evening Post

Why Leeds didn't end up signing Cameron Archer during the January transfer window

Transcript

00:00We should talk about the end of the transfer window.

00:07I know that that's kind of moved on a little bit because of the Cardiff game, because of

00:10Coventry and because it looks as though they absolutely do not need any new players.

00:15But deadline day came and went on Monday and Leeds didn't do anything in the end.

00:22I think the view on that is a lot rosier given the last two results.

00:30There will be some people who are still maybe discontented by the fact that no reinforcements

00:34have been brought in.

00:35And this is a topic which will rear its head again if there is a serious injury to one

00:39of the key players who's performing right now.

00:42But I think on the whole, it could prove to be a good decision if Leeds get that look

00:54and things continue to go their way.

00:56Because the only deal that really seemed as though it was in the offing was a potential

01:02loan move with an obligation to buy for Cameron Archer.

01:05Now that obligation will have been too high, I think.

01:12So six months before you've got to the Premier League, let's say hypothetically, you've committed

01:19a large chunk of money for a player who might not be Premier League standard.

01:26So I think there is, I mean, there's two schools of thought that, yeah, you know, insurance

01:32would have been great in the form of a player who absolutely gets you over the line and

01:38gets you over the line by several points, as we've said before on this podcast.

01:42There is also the school of thought that is, right, you know what, we've got that extra

01:4515, 20 million.

01:46I mean, it won't have been 15 million, the obligation, I can say that pretty confidently.

01:52We've got that extra 20 million in the bank to spend in the summer.

01:55I definitely agree on Archer because I don't think he's a player Leeds United would want

01:59with them in the Prem.

02:00I think they were looking at him as a player for literally just the here and now and literally

02:06just to give them something a little bit different because Patrick Bamford's fitness is a problem

02:12and because Matteo Joseph's goal scoring has been a problem and because something might

02:16happen to Joel Pirro just to have another option.

02:19It was what Brian Dean said in that piece I did with him not long ago, having different

02:23kinds of strikers that you can bring on so that the opposition, so things don't get predictable

02:28in the way he felt they got towards the end of last season.

02:33So the Archer thing, taking that on its own, I don't think anyone can be massively upset

02:39that it didn't happen because if it saddled Leeds with a 20 million pound obligation in

02:45the summer for a player that, unless he starts scoring goals in the Premier League, which

02:50he's been struggling to do, admittedly in two terrible teams, you're not getting that

02:55money back.

02:58You've basically just booked yourself a loss, haven't you?

03:02I don't think Southampton would ever have been minded to help Leeds United out in this

03:05scenario.

03:06Why would they?

03:09So they were never going to just let it be a straight loan.

03:13The Archer thing not happening, I don't think is a massive crime.

03:18I think though that the idea of not signing anyone is just going to be a little bit like

03:22a dormant volcano.

03:23There'll be rumblings, there might be a bit of smoke and maybe at some point there'll

03:27be a bit of an explosion about it and that's when you know that things have gone wrong

03:33for Leeds United.

03:34But it might be that you get to live for the next few months.

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