Leeds United are sitting on 30 points, with seven games of their season left, so should feel relatively confident in their ability to secure their Premier League status for another season. Of course, they still need to deliver some more points to be sure but they will be planning recruitment for this summer with the idea that they will be competing in the top tier once again in 22/23.
Victor Orta is well known for liking to identify top talent before they come into their prime years and one can expect that he will attempt to find another gem this summer. In fact, one of the players he made an approach for in the summer of 20/21 was Josko Gvardiol. The Croatian ended up choosing to move to RB Leipzig instead but Orta has been vindicated in his pursuit of the young centre back as he has been included in this list by CIES Football Observatory, where he is ranked as the fifth best player in Europe under the age of 21 and is the highest ranked defender.
On the list, there are several other players Leeds have been linked with before. Here are four players that Orta should try to sign for next season as the Spaniard bids to give Jesse Marsch an improved squad to go into his first full Premier League season as manager of Leeds:
Georginio Rutter
One of the major issues the Whites have had this season is that they have been unable to cover for the loss of Patrick Bamford up front. The striker has missed a huge portion of this season, leaving the Whites playing other players out of position due to a lack of another genuine number nine.
Hoffenheim's Rutter could be the answer to that issue. The 19-year-old has played the equivalent of 11 full matches in the Bundesliga this season and scored six times. According to football stats website, fbref, he ranks in the 95th percentile for strikers in Europe when it comes to pressing, making him perfect for Leeds. Also, the site has a 'similar players' function and Tammy Abraham and Ollie Watkins are listed as players close to Rutter's profile. Considering Leeds need another true number nine, a player of that kind of ilk could be perfect.
Yan Couto
Leeds were actually linked to Couto in 20/21 but there didn't seem to be any major move made for the Brazilian fullback and he ended up moving to Manchester City. He has been on loan in the Portuguese Primera Liga over the last season, playing for Braga.
He has primarily played as a right wing-back for Braga but has also played in a back four. Leeds could perhaps make an offer to loan Couto if City wanted to give him a season in a top European league for his development. Luke Ayling will be 31 next season and another right back to challenge him might be a good option.
Joshua Zirkzee
This would be another option to pursue a loan deal for, as Zirkzee is a highly rated Bayern Munich youngster. The 20-year-old has been on loan at Anderlecht in the Belgian Pro League this season, scoring 14 goals for Vincent Kompany's side.
However, it seems unlikely that he will step straight from there into Bayern's first-team, so they may be tempted to loan him somewhere that would be deemed a step up in terms of quality of competition. Whilst Leeds might prefer a permanent deal for a striker, it could make sense to have a player of the quality of Zirkzee to compete with and cover for Bamford. The challenge would be convincing Bayern that he would play enough minutes.
Arsen Zakharyan
Another area which Leeds need to strengthen in is midfield. 18-year-old Arsen Zakharyan is a midfielder capable of playing in multiple positions and he has excellent technical qualities, meaning he has weighed in with eight goals and five assists in all competitions for Dynamo Moscow this season, across 2000 minutes of action.
He is thought of as the best young player in Russia and a permanent move to one of Europe's top five leagues is expected sooner rather than later. Russia's war in Ukraine has complicated transfers involving Russian clubs though, so the young prodigy may not move anywhere until the situation is resolved.
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