Leeds United were relegated back down to the Championship earlier this year as they failed to extend their Premier League stay beyond three seasons.
They went down under Sam Allardyce, having also been managed by Javi Gracia and Jesse Marsch during the campaign, and are now in the second tier with Daniel Farke at the helm.
The first three of those bosses all failed to build on the success that Marcelo Bielsa achieved during his impressive spell at Elland Road.
He joined the Whites ahead of the 2018/19 season and immediately led them to a third-placed finish before going on to win the Championship title the following year.
Bielsa then secured a top-half finish in the Premier League, in ninth, at the end of the 2020/21 campaign but was then sacked and replaced by Marsch during the 2021/22 season.
Bielsa’s most-expensive Leeds signings | Fee (via Transfermarkt) |
|---|---|
Rodrigo | £25.9m |
Dan James | £25.1m |
Jean-Kevin Augustin | £18.2m |
Diego Llorente | £17.3m |
Raphinha | £16.1m |
There is little doubt that the Argentine tactician was a success over the course of his time in Yorkshire but, as you can see in the table above, he had a mixed track record in the transfer market.
One potential signing that Bielsa did, however, avoid a big blunder with was Norwich City attacking midfielder Todd Cantwell in the summer of 2021.
Were Leeds interested in Todd Cantwell?
Journalist Dean Jones told GIVEMESPORT at the start of 2022 that the Whites were “very keen” on a deal to sign the English dynamo during the summer transfer window ahead of the 2021/22 campaign.
It was reported, live on Sky Sports, by Dharmesh Sheth that it would have cost a team at least £40m, and possibly up to £50m, to sign Cantwell from the Canaries that year, as Norwich had just been promoted to the Premier League from the Championship under Farke.
The Whites were also interested in the Yellows academy graduate the previous year. Football Insider reported in the summer of 2020 that Leeds made an offer of £15m to sign the young gem but the Norfolk-born ace remained at Carrow Road and played a crucial role in their promotion.
Cantwell, who was hailed as “special” by former youth team coach Gary Cockaday, scored six goals and produced six assists in 33 Championship games as his side earned promotion back to the top-flight and that led to Bielsa being ‘very keen’ on his services in 2021.
Spanish wizard Pablo Hernandez departed Leeds on a free transfer that summer and the Norwich magician may have been viewed by the Argentine boss as the heir to his place in the squad.
How many goals did Hernandez score for Leeds?
The former Swansea playmaker scored 36 goals in 175 matches in all competitions for the Whites as a right-footed midfielder, who was deployed off the right, the left, and through the middle at times.
After a number of years of excellent service, Hernandez struggled for form throughout the 2020/21 campaign and was eventually allowed to depart upon the expiry of his contract at the end of the season.
The veteran midfielder produced zero goals and two assists in 16 Premier League outings that term as he failed to provide consistent quality as a scorer or a creator of goals from an attacking midfield position.
That came after his sublime return of nine goals and nine assists in 36 Championship matches for the Whites during their 2019/20 promotion season.
This shows that, like Cantwell, Hernandez was a midfielder who could contribute with goals and assists, in equal measure, on a regular basis in the second tier.
What happened to Cantwell?
After Leeds failed to get a deal over the line for the Norwich star in the summer of 2021, whether that was down to their reluctance to pay £40m for him or his club’s refusal to sell remains to be known, the former England U21 international struggled badly.
Cantwell, who had scored six goals in 30 Premier League starts during the 2019/20 campaign, failed to score or assist a single goal in eight top-flight outings during the first half of the 2021/22 season.
He did not create a single ‘big chance’ for his teammates in that time and was then sent out on loan to Bournemouth by manager Dean Smith, where the attacking midfielder managed zero goals and zero assists in 11 Championship matches.
Cantwell, who can play on the left, the right, or through the middle in midfield, was given another opportunity to revive his career at Norwich at the start of the 2022/23 campaign but did not contribute with any goals or assists in 18 second-tier games for Smith.
This then led to a permanent transfer for the then-24-year-old maestro to Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers during the January transfer window at the start of this year.
How much is Cantwell worth now?
At the time of writing (09/10/2023), FootballTransfers has his Expected Transfer Value (xTV) at just €3.4m (£2.9m) after nine months in Scotland.
Cantwell has racked up six goals and six assists in 26 outings in all competitions for the Light Blues to date and has showcased his attacking quality in the Scottish Premiership, with six goals and four assists in 20 games.
The 25-year-old technician was unable to display his ability on a regular basis at Premier League level for Norwich and then struggled to get back to his best in the Championship for the Canaries, or Bournemouth.
However, a move north of the border has allowed him to find his feet again and it now remains to be seen whether or not he will be able to get another chance to prove himself in the Premier League before the end of his career.
The chances of him being worth £40m again, as he seemingly was in the summer of 2021, appear to be quite slim as his current xTV is a staggering £37m less than the fee that Norwich wanted for him from Leeds under Bielsa.
Cantwell’s dip in form and plummeting transfer value suggest that the Whites and their former boss dodged a bullet that year as he would not have been a good replacement for Hernandez, in terms of his performances on the pitch or the money that it would have cost the Yorkshire-based outfit.
