Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa has said that the club 'should have finished first or second' irrespective of the January transfer saga which saw the Whites miss out on Swansea City winger Daniel James.
Leeds launched an 11th-hour bid to bring the attacking starlet to Elland Road in the January transfer window, but were unable to get a deal over the line.
Some fans have suggested that James could have been the missing piece in the jigsaw in the club's bid to return to the Premier League for the first time in 15 years.
However, Bielsa was keen to stress that his side should have secured automatic promotion regardless of the 21-year-old's transfer - and backed the owners by saying 'the club did everything'.
'The club did everything, more even, that they could do to find solutions to the needs of the team, but with or without James we should have finished first or second without any doubt'
"I don’t have any criticism to anyone," he told the media on Sunday.
"Everything that could be done was done. You know that James was going to come and didn’t come in January.
"I’m not underlying the importance of the absence of James, I’m underlying that the club struggled to get James.
"The club did everything, more even, that they could do to find solutions to the needs of the team.
"But with James or without him we should have finished first or second without any doubt."
"The game against Wigan illustrated the trend that the team has had all season. We had many games we deserved to win and didn’t win."
By the time Leeds face Villa on Sunday afternoon, their fate could be sealed. A win for Sheffield United at home to bottom side Ipswich Town will consign the Whites to a place in the play-offs .
