Leeds United look set for their busiest summer of incoming signings for some time. Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen's arrivals have now been followed by the addition of midfielder Marc Roca from Bayern Munich.
Meanwhile, there is an expectation that Victor Orta will also sign a new striker, with reports of a bid for PSG forward Arnaud Kalimuendo emerging yesterday. Leeds are also reportedly interested in another backup goalkeeper and will want to sign replacements for Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha, should the two stars leave the club. Alongside that, Manchester City youngster youngster Romeo Lavia could be included in a deal for Phillips, whilst further Under 23s signings are expected as Orta continues his strategy of buying top prospects that the club hope will serve to bulk out the first-team squad in time.
All of that work means this summer is likely to see the most incomings to the first-team squad since Victor Orta's first season at the club in 17/18, when they signed 16 players, with three of those being on loan. Here is a run down of Leeds' busiest summers in recent years, where we will assess how successful those summers actually were.
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18/19
Although Leeds didn't add many permanent signings in 18/19, the did make a raft of signings in Marcelo Bielsa's first summer at the club. Patrick Bamford and Barry Douglas were the major arrivals, as the Whites committed more money towards Bamford than for any deal they had made since being a Premier League club, whilst Douglas had just won the Championship with Wolves in the previous season.
Lewis Baker, Izzy Brown and Jamal Blackman all joined the club on loan from Chelsea, along with Jack Harrison on loan from Manchester City.
In terms of the successes, Bamford would go on to be a huge success but it did not necessarily seem that way in his first season after he picked up a serious knee injury early on which ruled him out for half the season. He broke double figures for goals but there was a sense that the Whites were better with Kemar Roofe up front in Bamford's first season at the club. Douglas started impressively but struggled to stay fit enough throughout his two seasons at the club, seeing him lose his place to Ezgjan Alioski.
When it comes to the loans, Jack Harrison ended up returning for two more years on loan before joining the club permanently last summer and has been an excellent signing overall, although again, his first season was his least impressive.
Meanwhile, all three Chelsea loans were disastrous. Blackman returned with a broken leg without playing a league game for the Whites and Baker was recalled in January after a lack of game-time. Brown was injured for the majority of the time he was at the club and was not trusted to play when he was fit.
17/18
The aforementioned summer of 2017 was Orta's first at the club. It is clear that a scattergun strategy was put in place as Leeds committed relatively small fees on players from undervalued leagues as they looked to bulk out the squad and hoped to hit the jackpot with some bargains.
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When it comes to the major signings, turning Pontus Jansson's loan into a permanent signing was vital, whilst Alioski and Samu Saiz were excellent signings for the price paid. In the early part of the next season, Saiz looked like he would prove himself as one of the best players in the division before personal issues put paid to that and saw him leave midway through the season. Mateusz Klich also arrived at the club that summer and although his first season was disastrous, seeing him loaned back to the Eredivisie in January, he played a key role in Leeds' transformation under Bielsa in the following seasons.
Unfortunately, the scattergun approach saw more failures than signings which worked, as players like Pawel Cibicki and Jay-Roy Grot struggled badly in the Championship. Pierre-Michel Lasogga impressed at times during his loan from Hamburg but was inconsistent, whilst Matthew Pennington played often in his loan from Everton but found his experience very difficult.
16/17
Massimo Cellino's final summer as owner of Leeds was not the most busy during his tenure but it did see ten first-team signings. Amongst these were Roof and Luke Ayling, both of whom would be important players, the latter particularly so under Bielsa.
Also there were the loan signings of Kyle Bartley and Jansson, who would form the heart of a new defence in front of fellow new signing Rob Green, as Garry Monk's side pushed for a play-off place. The most important new signing was Pablo Hernandez though, as the Spaniard initially arrived on loan and would go on to be the defining player of Leeds' time in the Championship. He was impressive in his first season under Monk but truly flourished in 18/19 when Bielsa arrived. It was his goal against Swansea in 19/20 which put Leeds on the brink of promotion, which was secured after the next fixture.
The big flop when it came to transfers in 16/17 was the loan of Swansea City midfielder Matt Grimes. The loanee had a difficult performance early on and struggled for game-time thereafter.
14/15
The busiest summer under Cellino came two season prior, as the Italian looked to make his mark after his takeover of the club, primarily bringing in players from the second tier of his own country. Giuseppe Bellusci, Souleymane Doukara, Mirco Antenucci, Marco Silvestri, Thomasso Bianchi and Adryan were among those arrivals, with only Bellusci, Doukara and Antenucci making any further appearances for the club after that first season.
Those arrivals were bolstered by some domestic signings which also weren't successful, such as Billy Sharp and Nicky Ajose. However, Liam Cooper and Gaetano Berardi also arrived in that season and both went on to become dressing room leaders in the years to come. Cooper is club captain to this day and lifted the Championship trophy in 19/20, whilst Berardi was the only one of the Italian based arrivals from 14/15 to last at the club in the long term, as he played for the club on 159 occasions.
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