Here are your Leeds United evening headlines for Sunday, February 6.
Agbonlahor relegation warning for Leeds United
Former Aston Villa and England striker Gabby Agbonlahor has warned Leeds United that they could get dragged into the relegation battle after Marcelo Bielsa recruited no players in the January transfer window.
Leeds are currently seven points above the relegation zone, but Agbonlahor said the Whites could be in trouble after teams around them in the table made big changes in January.
Brentford, who are one place above Leeds, brought in four players, including Christian Eriksen. Everton, a place behind Leeds, brought in new manager Frank Lampard and six players, including Donny van de Beek and Dele Alli.
Norwich City, currently a place above the relegation zone, did not bring in any new recruits. Third-bottom Watford recruited a new manager in Roy Hodgson and brought in five players.
Second-bottom Newcastle United also brought in five players, including Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimarães and Chris Wood from Burnley. While bottom club Burnley recruited striker Wout Weghorst to replace Wood.
Asked by Football Insider whether Leeds could get dragged into the relegation zone, Agbonlahor said: "Definitely. Watford have got a new manager in, that’s going to give them a boost.
"Newcastle have signed a lot of players, that’s going to give them a boost.
“Leeds have got to be very careful. They’re playing Everton in two games time, that’s a massive game.
“I just don’t understand why they haven’t brought in any players. They’ve got a long injury list.
“It just doesn’t make sense. You would have thought they would have tried to bring in some players.
“Maybe they won’t be held to ransom to big prices, maybe that’s it.”
Robin Koch praised for his charity work
Leeds United defender Robin Koch has been praised for work he has done under his own initiative with Leeds Children’s Charity at Lineham Farm.
In 2020, within weeks of arriving from Germany, Koch made contact with the Eccup-based charity, where director Dave Norman knew nothing about football.
“He’s a wonderful young man,” Norman told LeedsLive . “He’s very generous in spirit and he’s very generous in his time for us and, of course, not everybody in Leeds is like me.
“A lot of people in Leeds do know him because they do support the football team, so to have somebody like him is fantastic for us."
The charity helps the disadvantaged children of Leeds realise their full potential, and be everything they want to be in order to benefit them and their wider communities.
The children have access to indoor and outdoor activities at the farm, including arts, crafts, dancing, music, orienteering, bushcraft, climbing, archery and cycling.
Speaking of Koch's visits to the farm, Norman said: "Some children know him, some children haven’t a clue who he is, which is absolutely fine and he’s really cool with that.
“It’s just like having an extra member of the team when he’s up here."
Victor Orta's ongoing summer transfer dilemma
Despite Leeds United being seemingly clear of relegation at the moment, league position could become extremely important when it comes to being able to afford and recruit top players over summer.
Victor Orta's task of identifying and pursuing realistic transfer targets for palatable fees is made more difficult by a poorer finish in the league table. The reason for this is two-fold.
Firstly, Leeds are liable to receive less in the way of Premier League prize money with a lower finish: teams get approximately £2m extra per position in the table.
Secondly, until the club are mathematically safe from relegation, it is difficult to plan budgets, select primary targets and allocate funds for transfer expenditure if there is even the slightest uncertainty over which division the team will be playing in next season.
Additionally, luring Europe's best and brightest becomes increasingly difficult when the team they are being persuaded to join have underperformed the year before.
In short, finishing higher in the league stands to benefit the club for obvious reasons, meaning each of the 17 remaining fixtures Marcelo Bielsa's side will contest this season do matter.
