Here are your Leeds United morning headlines for Thursday, January 14.
Bamford on Alioski's dressing room influence
Patrick Bamford says Gjanni Alioski 'ups' the atmopshere in the Elland Road dressing room - even if the North Macedonian international's eccentric ways still befuddle his Leeds United team-mates.
Speaking on the official Leeds United podcast, Bamford was asked about what Alioski is like behind the scenes.
“He’s one of them guys that when he’s on your team, you’re so happy that he’s on your team even though sometimes you look at him and think, ‘what on earth are you doing?’
“But if he was on the opposition team, you’d hate it. He just winds people up. He’s always talking, he’s just annoying. If you’re not his teammate, he’d do your head in.
"He's brilliant. In your team he's fantastic, he brings his great energy, he ups the atmosphere and he is good for the team. You just sometime scratch your head wondering what's going through his head."
Bamford also says that the public perception of Alioski matches what they see on a day-to-day basis at Thorp Arch.
"[He's like that] all of the time. You know a kid who's had sugar and all of a sudden they're having a mad half hour? He's like that but all the time.
"When we got promoted and went on holiday to Ibiza all together, that was the first time we saw him together with his Missus and through he'd be a bit more calm. Exactly the same. Absolute nutcase.
"He's the same with everyone's kids as well. If any of the lads bring their kids to training, while they're waiting around or whatever, Alioski makes such a fuss. He'll grab the kids and pretend to bite them, he's actually crazy. He's so weird, but the kids love it."
Leeds' shortest season ever
If you're looking for silver linings to emerge from Sunday's FA Cup defeat at Crawley, it means that Leeds are free to focus on their Premier League campaign without distraction. Given the impact that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is having on the several clubs' fixture lists, being able to have some flexibility is not a bad thing.
The early exits in both the FA Cup and EFL Cup mean that Leeds will actually be playing their shortest-ever season this term, which will also provide ammunition when it comes to arguing with the 'burnout' critics that refuse to go away.
Click here for more on that, plus how this term compares to Leeds' last two seasons under Bielsa.
Every completed transfer so far
We're approaching the halfway make of the January transfer window and we've summed up every done deal in the Premier League so far here.
Leeds are excepting to have a quiet window and their movement so far has been restricted to securing a new loan move for Jordan Stevens, who will spend the rest of the campaign at Bradford City.
Manchester United yesterday saw defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah join Bayer Leverkusen, while other eye-catching moves from elsewhere include West Bromwich Albion boss Sam Allardyce signing up two former Leeds players.
