Leeds United brought in three players in January, Elia Caprile, Jean-Kevin Augustin and Ian Poveda.
It may seem like a long time ago now, but the Whites also lost two first-teamers as Jack Clarke and Eddie Nketiah were recalled by Tottenham and Arsenal respectively.
These two departures were pivotal in Leeds’ actions last month, being forced to replace both players, and they managed to competently get that done.
However, the Yorkshire club may actually be weaker now than they were in late December before their two loanees were recalled.
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For a start, Clarke and Nketiah both had plenty of experience in playing under Marcelo Bielsa, and they would have known his system better than both Augustin and Poveda.
Not only that, but there is an argument to be made that their former men are actually of a higher quality than their new acquisitions.
Clarke was considered a good enough prospect to be bought for £10m by Tottenham last summer, while Poveda was happily cast aside by Man City as Leeds were able to sign him on a free transfer.
Augustin may have Champions League experience, but he’s not scored a league goal for the past 12 months, while Nketiah proved that he knew how to find the target during his spell at Elland Road, boasting a record of a goal every 166.67 league minutes.
Augustin does have a better pedigree than Nketiah, playing and scoring in the Champions League, but he’s only signed on an initial six-month loan, and during that time form will be more important than quality, and unfortunately, the Frenchman hasn’t shown any semblance of that in over a year.
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