"How Leeds’ transfer process will work as they look to survive back in the Premier League"
Beren Cross
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On the big nights, you can stand in the West Yorkshire countryside, miles away from Elland Road, and hear the soul of Leeds United. In February last year, when second-placed Leeds beat Championship leaders Leicester City, videos of this phenomenon surfaced.
Anyone in the stadium that night will remember their out-of-body experiences as Leeds scored in the 80th, 83rd and 94th minutes to complete a 3-1 comeback. Clips of that night’s latticed limbs, post-match playing of Kaiser Chiefs’ club anthem I Predict A Riot and rural noise pollution are taking on fresh importance.
When the sporting director, Adam Underwood, and the head of recruitment, Alex Davies, with occasional help from managing director Robbie Evans, pitch to prospective signings, they boot up video from February 23, 2024. Those clips are just a small fraction of the presentations they are making to players, but that night, and Leeds’ Championship title parade through the city just a few weeks ago, cut to the chase on what a behemoth this club is.
Evans, Underwood and Davies have a critical summer ahead of them — for Leeds, and for their own careers at Elland Road. They were all involved in last year’s close-season dealings too, but this is the first summer they will all spend in positions of such seniority — and they do so ahead of a return to the Premier League. Leeds sources, speaking under the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, like all of those spoken to for this article, admit the trio can anticipate where fingers may be pointed if manager Daniel Farke’s side struggle back in the English top flight next season.
Chairman Paraag Marathe is backing them to succeed, and they are not in these roles by accident. For the past 20 years, Evans has worked across banking, consulting, operations and strategy with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, among other businesses. More specifically, his duties involved the 49ers’ salary-cap calculations, the hiring of their head coaches and the building of their 68,500-seat home, Levi’s Stadium.

Underwood has come through the ranks at Leeds’ youth academy, strategising across the age groups in recruitment, agent negotiations and coaching hires. Sources at the club feel he can take that experience of dealing with youth players and agents into the first-team arena.
Davies has long been highly regarded by insiders at Leeds, predominantly because of his eye for a player from his scouting and analysis background. His voice quickly became one Marathe wanted to hear more of in meetings after the 2023 takeover by 49ers Enterprises, the NFL team’s investment arm.
Alongside Marathe and Farke, these are the key decision-makers during a pivotal transfer window for Leeds. Evans, who was the club’s chief strategy officer until chief executive Angus Kinnear departed to become Everton CEO last month, has led an overhaul of the data operation, which was virtually non-existent before his appointment in November 2023.
This five-person department, which will expand to eight by next season, is led by Bikash Deb. Sources at Leeds suggest that 98 per cent of the past two years, effectively since relegation from the top division of English football, has been spent planning for the Premier League. Whether it is finding the right players, establishing what it takes to stay up, set-piece maximisation or how other promoted clubs survived, sources at Leeds say these analysts have left no stone unturned.
This stretches as far as having an analyst working on tracking-data analysis — which involves a player’s location and movement across a game of football. Leeds are also recruiting people with specialisms in biomechanics — how a person moves when playing football — to be able to do more body-specific analysis.
The data is one side of the equation, but there are nuances in the decisions the key voices in the club need to make.
Gretar Steinsson, technical director at 49ers Enterprises having had that role at Elland Road and been performance director at Tottenham Hotspur, and Kevin Thelwell, now sporting director with 49ers Enterprises-owned Scottish giants Rangers following previous similar positions with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton, are experienced heads the executives at Leeds can go to for advice.
Leeds have been pursuing transfer targets since April, and in that time, a clear process for the summer has emerged.
Sources say it begins with the data team, scouts and coaches (mainly Farke) each putting names forward. The data team’s suggestions are then assessed by the scouts and vice versa, to ensure everyone proposed gets analysed. For example, Evans may ask an analyst to find every left-back in the world with a defined set of characteristics, which the data shows can work in the Premier League.
(Continued below)
Great read....
posted on 14/6/25
Bielsa was more powerful than any super computer 🖥️
^^^
Truth.
posted on 15/6/25
comment by salonika73 (ECWCF v AC Milan) (U4688)
posted 22 hours, 19 minutes ago
.....and yet, if data analytics is only now being introduced, what were all that team that Bielsa brought in doing? I thought he was renowned for data analytics, and even did a presentation to us on it!!
Maybe we're just taking different levels of analytics
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I would imagine Bielsa's analysts were devoted to the players at the club, whereas this is to do with analysts who track every player in Europe and compile lists of players that meet statistical requirements for each position. This is what Brighton do.
posted on 15/6/25
I know of a player who probably wouldn’t meet the
analysis, statistical requirements that the analysts
record…there is a statue of him at Elland Road.
posted on 15/6/25
comment by NJS Vaguely Noble (U8272)
posted 1 hour, 44 minutes ago
I know of a player who probably wouldn’t meet the
analysis, statistical requirements that the analysts
record…there is a statue of him at Elland Road.
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Bremner would absolutely hit stats that statistical analysts record and look at. I'm not even sure what you're trying to get at.
posted on 15/6/25
comment by Lubo - Struijk of Genius (U14008)
posted 12 minutes ago
comment by NJS Vaguely Noble (U8272)
posted 1 hour, 44 minutes ago
I know of a player who probably wouldn’t meet the
analysis, statistical requirements that the analysts
record…there is a statue of him at Elland Road.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bremner would absolutely hit stats that statistical analysts record and look at. I'm not even sure what you're trying to get at.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
How the hell do you know what the criteria would be
to even classify Bremner, or any other player for that
matter? You have no idea if Bremner would meet the
statistical analysts record…did you ever see him play,
live?
posted on 15/6/25
Just to add: I wasn’t answering your post…I didn’t
quote your post…I was making a general comparison
between Bremner and the general remarks of the
article, if that’s okay with you?!
posted on 15/6/25
comment by NJS Vaguely Noble (U8272)
posted 21 minutes ago
comment by Lubo - Struijk of Genius (U14008)
posted 12 minutes ago
comment by NJS Vaguely Noble (U8272)
posted 1 hour, 44 minutes ago
I know of a player who probably wouldn’t meet the
analysis, statistical requirements that the analysts
record…there is a statue of him at Elland Road.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bremner would absolutely hit stats that statistical analysts record and look at. I'm not even sure what you're trying to get at.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
How the hell do you know what the criteria would be
to even classify Bremner, or any other player for that
matter? You have no idea if Bremner would meet the
statistical analysts record…did you ever see him play,
live?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
No. I didn't.
As for if that allows me to comment on whether players would show up analysis, it doesn't matter. All players get analysed for all kinds of things. Its not just fancy metrics, but a lot of distance travelled, high intensity sprints, tackles in specific areas of the pitch, heat maps etc etc
Obviously you cannot judge entirely off that, but its a good way of earmarking potential players to take closer, in-person looks at, instead of having scouts vaguely patrolling games in the hope that they see someone who might be half-decent. You don't want your entire model to be analysis, but you do want it to be the beginning of that.
I'm sure Bremner would have shown up high on many different spots of analysis at the time, or is your suggestion that he wouldn't? I defer to your advanced years having seen him live to know whether he was a good tackler and mover off the ball.
posted on 15/6/25
Ok Lubo…but I emphasis I didn’t quote your post or
address you. I was making a general point in the debate.
I certainly don’t mind talking about Bremner…a pity you
didn’t see him play. Personally I think any statistical
record of him from analytic pov would have been
unimpressed, he wouldn’t have fitted in the general opinion of what made a top class player.
His first appearances in a Leeds shirt as a young player on the right wing didn’t go down very well…he was
booed on a few occasions!
No pace, no conspicuous skills on view…nothing to get
excited about…where have they got him from?
Gradually he played himself into the team, Revie saw
something in him, he became manager and moved him
into midfield…eventually Revie made him captain, is he
serious, ffs?!!
Leeds were promoted, Bobby Collins was signed and
really helped Bremner…these years, early and later
sixties were the, in my opinion, the first phase of his
career…he had a tough guy image, at times he was
playing dirty, going over the ball at times with his tackling, but his skills, close ball control, good passes,
With exceptional one twos…his spirit and his never say
die attitude spurred the team on…his game rarely
disappointed, you could see why he was captain now he
shouted and cajoled…he encouraged the team.
The second phase of his career from about late sixties
to the European Cup final, even though we lost, was a
delight, in my opinion…the rough, tough guy was now
an artist, at times he was a ballet dancer, pirouettes
to shake off an opponent, clever decoys, one twos as
Always…importantly scoring vital goals!
The ballet dancer, his legs were long, his stature small,
now he was captain of Scotland!
His death was a great shock to everyone in Leeds and
the footballing world…still a young man…he was a
legend, in my opinion…I still miss seeing him play!
Well it’s Fathers Day and I really enjoyed the treat of
talking about Billy Bremner…thanks for the opportunity
Lubo, all the best.
posted on 16/6/25
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Old Timers Hospital Patients 0
Ace of Club All Night Dancers 10
North Pole Cold Fronts 0
Equatorial Africa Heat 10
Black Forest Gateau Fatties 3
Wine and Cheese before bedtime Heart Attacks 0
Old Age Pensioners Moaners 0
Young Lads A-Go-Go Go Getters 10
Rome in August Sweaters 3
Papua New Guinea Sun Rash 5
Olympic Sprinters Heatmaps 12
Slow Joggers No Hopers 0
posted on 16/6/25
Good read, interesting to see the club seemingly much smarter in how they look for players. I'm looking forward to seeing just who comes through the doors in the coming weeks.
As for the Bremner debate it's the age old debate about intergenerational players. I see lots of vids where ex-pro boxers say who would win between X and Y fighters ..... not always, but regularly they seem to opt for the fighter of the generation they witnessed. I think it's similar to footie. Personally I've no idea. I had the fortune to see the Leeds team from the early 70s onwards. Were they better/worse than more recent players - who knows?
What i've always wondered, just how good could they have been with modern training, conditioning and overall more professional approaches to the game? It's tantalising to imagine, Billy, Eddie and others somehow dropped into the modern game. Well for me anyway.