Leeds United was demoted from the Premier League at the end of the previous campaign, and some fans may view the organization’s subpar performance in the transfer market as one of the major contributors to their fall to the Championship.
Who are Leeds’ most expensive signings?
The Whites were promoted to the top-flight in 2020 and they used their new-found funds at the top level to bolster their squad with a host of big-money additions.
In fact, since their 2020 promotion-winning campaign, four of the club’s five most expensive additions in club history have occurred in the last three years.
Victor Orta, a former director of sports, was not afraid to spend big money, but he fell short of creating a team that could carry the organisation through the previous season.
The Spanish manager, who joined LaLiga team Sevilla this summer, did not make every deal a failure; instead, he made several excellent additions, like centre midfielder Tyler Adams.
What did Leeds spend on Tyler Adams?
The USA international was swiftly acquired by the Whites from Bundesliga team RB Leipzig in the summer of 2022 for a rumoured transfer fee of £15 million.
Despite a lacklustre season with his former team in the German top division, he was lured to Elland Road. Through 24 league games in the 2021/22 season, the defensive anchor averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.68 and contributed 1.7 tackles and interceptions per game.
To put that figure into perspective, Adams received lower average Sofascore ratings than 18 other Leipzig players. Throughout the season, he also rated among his colleagues in the top 12 for interceptions and the top 13 for tackles made per game. This demonstrates that the holding midfielder was not one of the club’s top players and had trouble making an impact on games.
Instead of going with Mohamed Camara from Red Bull Salzburg, who had also played for the American head coach, Orta was able to gain his services in order to reconnect him with Jesse Marsch, with whom he had previously collaborated in Germany.
The Mali international reportedly cost €15 million (£12.8 million) to sign with AS Monaco in France after Leeds allegedly failed in a €25 million (£21.4 million) bid for his talents earlier in the transfer window.
The fact that they were unable to sign Camara turned out to be a blessing in disguise because they were able to sign Adams for a much lower price, and the USMNT player had a better personal season than the Ligue 1 enforcer.
How well did Adams perform for Leeds?
Leeds seemingly saw the potential for the USA international to be far better than his displays for Leipzig indicated he was and they were spot on as the midfielder produced consistently impressive performances in the Premier League.
Adams hit the ground running in England and was able to showcase his defensive quality on a regular basis in the middle of the park, playing in midfield alongside former Bayern Munich talent Marc Roca.
In 24 top-flight appearances for the Whites during the 2022–23 season, the 24-year-old patroller averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.98 and completed 82% of his attempted passes.
The former Leipzig player, who was able to put on strong performances week in and week out, has the highest average Sofascore rating of any player with at least one start under their credit.
His ability to win possession back for the team was arguably his biggest strength. Adams made an outstanding 5.2 tackles and interceptions per game and won 57% of his duels, as per Sofascore, which shows that he came out on top in the majority of his physical contests
No Leeds player who appeared on the field more than once made as many tackles and interceptions per game and he made 0.8 more tackles per game than any of these teammates. This shows he is an exceptional presence in midfield with great defensive quality.
Unfortunately, the central midfielder missed the final game of the season with a hamstring injury that has kept him out of action since March 15. This means Sam Allardyce, who was caretaker manager during the beginners, found themselves without the talent of this impressive gem in a number of important matches.
Meanwhile, Camara averaged 6.82 on Sofascore and made 3.8 tackles and interceptions in 29 Ligue 1 appearances for Monaco. Adams ranks in the top 3% of his peers across the big five men’s leagues and European competitions for tackles and clearances per 90 minutes over the past 365 days. While Camara ranked at the bottom with 36% or less in both statistics during this period.
These statistics suggest that the Yorkshire-based outfit struck gold by signing the American dynamo instead of the Mali international due to his higher average performance level and his considerably better defensive contributions as a number six.
How much did Leeds sell Adams for?
Leeds took advantage of the ‘monster’ – as journalist Kevin Koczwara dubbed it – in the recent summer transfer window following their relegation from the Championship.
Adams’ performances were good enough to earn him a move to the Premier League as Bournemouth swooped in to secure his services for a fee of £23 million plus add-ons.
The move to the south coast comes after a failed move to Stamford Bridge to join Mauricio Pochettino.
This shows that Orta struck gold for the Whites as the defensive midfielder’s market value soared by a minimum of £8m, with it remaining to be seen how much the add-ons are worth, in just one year at Elland Road.
He was a standout performer in a poor team last term and should be viewed as a successful signing in spite of the side’s fate as Adams did his job on the pitch and was let down by his teammates, whilst he also made the club a significant profit off the field with his move to the Cherries.
Ortad deserves credit for that signing and supporters may wonder why the Spanish sporting director was not able to unearth more gems like him in recent years, as a few more additions like that could have bolstered their chances of avoiding the drop last season.
