The last few seasons have seen Leeds United spend sums of money that some fans could only have dreamed of prior to promotion to the Premier League, with over £300m leaving the wallet of Andrea Radrizzani and co. But, things are slightly different now after relegation to the Championship, as Daniel Farke works on bringing the club back to the big time at the first time of asking.
To do that, he may need a few handy additions next month. So, with the January transfer window upon us, we at Football FanCast have decided to take a look at some of the worst January transfer signings that have been made at Leeds United.
9 Cameron Stewart Joined on loan – 9th January 2014
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The Englishman joined Leeds on loan with a further agreement to a permanent deal. However, that permanent deal was later cancelled, which led to a lawsuit that saw Stewart win £750,000 in due wages.
He made 11 appearances for the Whites, but failed to make any kind of impact, hence the desperation to cancel the deal.
8 Jimmy Kebe Joined on loan – 10th January 2014
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Jimmy Kebe on a six-month loan deal, and that was all it turned out to be.
For a player who had so much hype behind him when he joined, fans were shocked at just how bad the attacker was. One of the common themes was just how lazy he was. Bielsa certainly wouldn't have put up with it.
He scored just one goal in nine appearances for the Yorkshire club.
7 Andros Townsend Joined on loan – 1st January 2012
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A young Andros Townsend joined Leeds back in January of 2012. He played just seven times but managed to score a goal and assist one, though never really looked amazing.
And, Neil Warnock revealed that the player has opted to cut short his loan spell.
He stated: "His agent told me he didn't like here, he wasn't happy, and he hadn't settled. I've heard that Birmingham want to sign him, I don't know if that's got anything to do with it."
6 Laurens De Bock Joined for £1.5m – 11th January 2018
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De Bock was brought back in January of 2018 to be the solution at left-back, but he made a number of mistakes and looked rather uncomfortable defensively, which affected his minutes on the field.
It was obvious he was unlikely to play much of a part in the future of Leeds when Marcelo Bielsa took charge as he went out on four loan spells, before joining Zulte-Waregem on a free transfer.
For someone who was brought in as a solution and cost actual money, it turned out to be a stinker of a signing.
5 Habib Habibou Joined on loan – 31st January 2013
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Habib Habibou came to Leeds after a prolific spell in Belgium, and to be fair, he looked good on his debut. But, it was all downhill from there as he made just four appearances for the club without scoring.
He later went on to reveal that he regretted his transfer to Leeds United, and it's safe to say so did the fans.
At least it was only a loan deal.
4 Alfonso Pedraza Joined on loan – 31st January 2017
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Alfonso Pedraza moved to Elland Road back in January of 2017 on an initial loan with the option to buy for £8.5 million, should the Whites have been promoted in the 2016/17 season.
Leeds finished 7th and decided not to cut their ties with the player there and then. He made just 14 appearances in his time at the club, only managing to score one goal in that time, which was deemed not good enough.
3 Edgar Cani Joined on loan – 2nd February 2015
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Striker Edgar Cani signed in a temporary move from Italian club Catania during the era of Massimo Cellino (pictured above), but ultimately made only four appearances for the Whites, failing to find the net in a disappointing chapter in the journeyman’s career. He would briefly find relative stability at lower-league Italian outfit Pisa, but left Elland Road without making any lasting memories.
Another waste from the Cellino days.
2 Kiko Casilla Joined on free transfer – 19th January 2019
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Kiko Casilla left European giants Real Madrid to join Leeds United back in January of 2019. And, to be fair to him, he made 62 appearances, with 36 of these coming during Leeds' promotion-winning season back in 2019/20 under Marcelo Bielsa.
A number of mistakes, including this one against Brentford, led to plenty of Leeds fans calling for his head.
But it was another incident that overshadowed his time at the club, as Casilla was found guilty of racism towards Charlton Athletic's Jonathan Leko, which resulted in him being banned for eight games.
He then lost his place to Illan Meslier, and the rest is history.
1 Jean-Kevin Augustin Joined on loan – 27th January 2020
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Jean-Kevin Augustin is a name that will no doubt leave a sour taste in the mouths of Leeds fans.
He joined back in January of 2020 with an obligation to buy for £18 million, provided Leeds got promoted from the Championship. However, everything soon went downhill as Marcelo Bielsa wasn't convinced by Augustin's physical ability to operate as he wanted, and he played just 48 minutes in Leeds colours before English football was shut down by the pandemic.
So, this complicated things as the Whites earned a long-awaited place in the Premier League. Because the season ended up concluding in July, the Whites argued the clause expired at the end of June, by which time they had not been promoted, whereas parent club Leipzig believed that it had been extended until the delayed end of the campaign, when they were.
The courts sided with Leipzig, ordering Leeds to pay the £18m after an unsuccessful appeal, but they reached a £15.5m "amicable resolution" with the German club in December.