Additions are always the headline attraction of a summer transfer window, but Victor Orta has more than just new faces to manage at Leeds United this summer. There are several faces already on the books at Elland Road who may have legitimate questions about their futures.
Whether it’s long-term or short-term debates about the club’s grand plan for them, Orta’s door is the one they, or more specifically their agents, will knock on for answers. The director of football has already moved swiftly to add to the Leeds stable since the end of last term, but he knows the summer window is a double-edged sword.
Charlie Cresswell has already admitted he will be speaking to Orta and Jesse Marsch about the plan for next season in the coming weeks. Now on holiday after his England under-21 exploits, the centre-back must feel ready for regular senior football now.
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Cresswell turns 20 in August and with Premier League 2 football unable to do much more for his development there is a strong case for taking that next leap. The question the defender will have for Orta is where he takes that step.
With Luke Ayling, Robin Koch, Liam Cooper, Diego Llorente and Pascal Struijk all centre-backs Marsch may legitimately pick ahead of Cresswell, a loan move looks plausible. A new contract was signed as recently as last August, but another deal could well be signed as a gesture of good faith if it is to be a season away from Elland Road.
Crysencio Summerville made it clear he wanted to leave the Whites in January for more first-team football. You can be sure the 20-year-old will ask similarly stern questions of Orta about his future this summer.
Marsch has said, on more than one occasion, how he wanted to use Summerville more during the run-in, but injury robbed him of that chance. Unless the tricky Dutch winger is made to feel he will play a significant role in the new season, there has to be an expectation he looks for minutes further afield.
Jamie Shackleton, an academy product like Cresswell, is further along in his career at 22-years-old now. With those extra years comes a shred more urgency in the pursuit of regular minutes.
The midfielder-turned-right-back was the first of the next generation to be blooded by Marcelo Bielsa in 2018. Ever since then, Shackleton has looked the hard-working type fans love, but as romantic as his story with Leeds is, this summer could deliver a reality check.
Injuries have not been kind to Shackleton and there have been several in the past four years where knocks and niggles have knocked him off his stride right when he’s threatened to establish himself. There were issues again last term, but he still played more minutes than in any of the previous three seasons.
Shackleton still has the security of two years on his contract and it’s easy to see why Marsch would want to keep him around the squad, but he turns 23 in October. He has to make a career for himself and he needs to be starting more than 30 games a season, not six or seven.
Cody Drameh’s case is quite similar to Summerville’s, except he was allowed to take the loan he requested in January. All of the reports out of Cardiff City have been glowing about the right-back, who cleaned up at the club’s end-of-season awards with just half a campaign behind him.
Evidently, the 20-year-old is ready to be a first-choice full-back in the Championship, but United’s survival and Rasmus Kristensen’s arrival must paint a picture for him. Conversations similar to those Orta had with Drameh in January are sure to be replicated this summer.
With two years left on Drameh’s contract and a new senior right-back on the books for £10m, it would be no huge surprise to see a permanent exit for a defender who has been explicitly clear in his demand for starts. There is no doubting his potential and if Orta could perhaps extend that contract there could be grounds for another loan move.
