‘We were going to’: Angus Kinnear suggests Leeds genuinely thought about signing £18m striker this summer

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Leeds United needed a new striker heading into this summer.

With Patrick Bamford struggling to stay fit and Rodrigo Moreno leaving the club, Leeds needed a new centre-forward this term.

Ultimately, the Whites ended up signing Joel Piroe from Swansea after a fantastic season in the Championship, but there were other options on the table.

Indeed, according to Angus Kinnear, speaking on The Square Ball Podcast, Leeds were looking at Cameron Archer alongside Piroe, but the former Aston Villa striker ultimately got a move to the Premier League with Sheffield United paying £18m to sign the attacker.

Archer wanted

Kinnear named Archer alongside Piroe as a target this summer.

“The position of the 49ers taking over and hiring the most successful manager in recent years. Evidencing we were going to invest in the squad, evidencing we were going to keep players we could keep like Summerville and Willy, showing we were going to go out and buy a top Championship centre-forward, whether that was Cameron Archer or Joel Piroe, we thought that would’ve influenced people, especially when you looked at the loan options available for them,” Kinnear said.

Kinnear spoke again about Archer later in the podcast.

“Take someone like Cameron Archer, he has already had a Championship loan, he doesn’t want to go again, he wants a permanent home, we were prepared to offer him a permanent home, but he’d prefer to be in the Premier League. I think Leeds have more chance of being in the Premier League regularly over the next five years than Sheffield United, but the fact we’re not there is a problem for these players,” Kinnear said.

Difficult

This is the stark reality of being a Championship club.

Leeds are a massive club, but if you’re not playing top-flight football, you, quite simply, can’t compete with the big boys.

A player like Archer wants to be on the biggest stage. He’ll have one eye on the England team, and he knows that one good season in the Premier League can elevate his career to the next level.

As long as Leeds are in the second-tier, they won’t be able to compete with Premier League sides for these types of players.