Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Leeds United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Noah Okafor was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Joelinton falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. West Ham United had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“I did not go to Cambridge United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Leeds United and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Wilfried Gnonto’s exile
The dugoutAnton Stach asks for a word with the manager
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 18 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leeds United can pretend not to have heard.
West Ham United pay $14.4M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Leeds United close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaka Bijol is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Leeds United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Chelsea paid $18.5M and Leeds United took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Harry Wilson decided nobody was going anywhere. Brentford had no time left to answer.
$11.9M was the most the club would pay and Orlando Pirates were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nottingham Forest have kept their man, and Leeds United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer went to Orlando Pirates this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
1 for Jaka Bijol, marked 7.61, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The name of Joe Rodon has come up in conversations Leeds United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Noah Okafor and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joelinton is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Burnley were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bournemouth have kept their man, and Leeds United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Franculino has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Franculino has, at Leeds United, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leeds United can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Joelinton and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaka Bijol is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liverpool have kept their man, and Leeds United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$20.2M on the table at Trabzonspor. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Leeds United, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Jaka Bijol and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
$140.0K was the most the club would pay and Wrexham were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Anton Stach and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Joelinton falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Leeds United can tell you which week it ends in.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Anton Stach wants continental football; whether Leeds United can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Joelinton was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Jaka Bijol falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
9 goals in 14 games at Fiorentina — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Leeds United updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Harry Walker after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Joelinton and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Leeds United heard it as anything else.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Joe Rodon falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
8 goals in 13 games at Fiorentina — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Leeds United updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Joelinton falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Tottenham scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“I did not go to Cambridge United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Leeds United and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” James Trafford and Leeds United agree another 5 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Wolverhampton were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harry Wilson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Harry Walker could afford to be generous.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leeds United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Wilson Odobert wants continental football; whether Leeds United can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Leeds United can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Joe Rodon falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Noah Okafor was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joelinton was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ross Barkley trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Anton Stach was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Joelinton falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Leeds United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cambridge United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Boardroom9 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Leeds United dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Leeds United heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joe Rodon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Anton Stach wants continental football; whether Leeds United can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Joelinton falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and Leeds United are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Harry Walker to a room that had heard them before.
Mark Matthews was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Joelinton and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joe Rodon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Lewis Pirie, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Leeds United dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Harry Walker to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joe Rodon trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Joe Rodon falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Joelinton was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I did not go to Cambridge United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Leeds United and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Anton Stach and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
James Trafford has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joelinton is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. James Trafford has come out of that comparison in the side, and Leeds United have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Harry Walker kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutJames Justin is still being punished for one mistake
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joelinton was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Harry Wilson. 1‑0 against West Ham United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
7.85, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Leeds United had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad28 Sep 2026
11 new faces, and Leeds United are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lourenço Henriques has just signed for Leeds United, and for once the answer mattered.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Joelinton falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Leeds United asked and West Bromwich Albion said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Leeds United asked and Derby County said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Leeds United close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Leeds United heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaka Bijol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Leeds United scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hull City have kept their man, and Leeds United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The offer from Tranmere Rovers for Iliya Gruev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Joelinton was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A 2‑1 win over Crystal Palace, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Leeds United are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Jaka Bijol is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
SquadLeeds United are still strangers to each other
Leeds United asked and Sunderland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 20, and nobody at Leeds United signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Crystal Palace keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Noah Okafor was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joelinton was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Joelinton from Newcastle United for $38.5M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The deal with Newcastle United is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Leeds United have gone to Liverpool with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Leeds United offered $4.6M; Leicester City said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Jaka Bijol and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Harry Wilson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Leeds United
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Joseph Richardson has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The offer went to Newcastle United this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$14.5M was the most the club would pay and Charlotte Football Club were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
$4.6M on the table at Leicester City. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Wilson Odobert comes from Tottenham for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Leeds United hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jacob Render falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
The dugoutAnton Stach asks for a word with the manager
$10.9M on the table at Tottenham. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Leeds United have gone to Charlotte Football Club with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Leeds United hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Anton Stach and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaka Bijol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Sam Chambers has come up in conversations Leeds United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Leeds United, another week without a signature from Jacob Render.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and Leeds United are still learning each other