Signings would be arriving at Leeds United within the next nine days and before the January transfer window even opens if the club had its way. The official trading period begins in nine days, but Jesse Marsch says goals have been set to finalise business ahead of time in the best-case scenario.
With 49ers Enterprises’ collective finger hovering over the takeover button and Andrea Radrizzani casting one eye on the future transition of power, frank conversations have been had on financing the coming window. Understandably, all parties are keen to clarify who’s paying for what and how that plays into the long-term finances of the takeover.
Marsch was asked about the financing of next month’s dealings and he was confident the correct packages were already agreed to see players through the door. The head coach even stressed how active Victor Orta and Radrizzani had already been in trying to get deals over the line before January 1.
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“They'll be working with some different ideas of how to put together the whole package so we can add to the team in the way we need to,” he said. “We discuss this often. It's already been incredibly active.
“Everyone's had goals that maybe you can get players in ahead of time, so you can have them even before January 1. Let's see how things progress.”
Marsch has 23 players in his squad with Premier League minutes this season. Throw in the likes of Leo Hjelde, Archie Gray, Darko Gyabi, Sonny Perkins, Stuart Dallas, the back-up goalkeepers and you can see how that number swells.
It is not, however, a case of outgoings before incomings at Elland Road next month. While there are various opinions in football; on the ideal squad size, Marsch does not see it in any hard and fast way with Leeds.
“There's different strategies,” he said. “Pep [Guardiola] said over the years he likes 18 senior players because more than that [and] it gets difficult to manage rotation, then he introduces young players.
“I've been places where they've said, if you're playing in Europe, the number should be 21. I've been [in] places where they say 20.
“We're not so structured that way and we have a lot of moving pieces at different times. We try to just look at what's the best situation for every individual and then how it fits within the group we're trying to push for any given time period.
“With the work we've done here, I've been really happy and satisfied with the commitment from every player to try to get the most out of every day. That's ultimately more my job than telling [the board] ‘we need this transfer, this transfer, this transfer.’”
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