Here are your Leeds United morning headlines for Friday, 10 July.
Bent urges Leeds to ditch Augustin
Leeds United must not turn Jean-Kevin Augustin’s loan move into a permanent deal, according to ex-England forward Darren Bent.
French striker Augustin has only played 48 minutes in three substitute appearances at Elland Road after signing on loan from RB Leipzig in January.
At the time, an £18million obligatory purchase was agreed with Leipzig, but now Leeds may have to pay a significant penalty payment to get out of the deal.
Bent told Football Insider: “It was an awful bit of business because he barely played a minute.
“Leeds are probably best off playing the penalty bonus and getting out of it because he is going to cost them – it’s going to be a lot cheaper in the long run than keeping him.”
Bielsa analyses Leeds display
Leeds are back on top of the Championship after a resounding 5-0 victory against Stoke City on Thursday evening.
The result means they need just seven points from the remaining four games of the season to secure promotion to the Premier League.
“Both halves were different. We started the match well. But the second part of the first half we lost contact with the opponent’s goal,” Bielsa said of his team’s performance.
“And after being able to score at the end of the first half is very important. The second half early goal made the match easier. But, in any case, it was a good result. It was not a match with five goals difference between both teams.”
“Leeds the best team we’ve played” - O’Neill
A disconsolate Michael O’Neill would have made ten substitutions if he could have as Leeds blew away his Stoke side yesterday.
The former Northern Ireland manager said: “We had to manage them through the game, really. At 3-0 we started to look towards Sunday.
“We’re paying every three days so we have to be mindful of that. You can only make five substitutions – believe me, if I had the chance to make ten I probably would have.
“I’d be very surprised if Leeds don’t go up, to be honest. They’re the best team we’ve played.”
