It’s early January and we’re now in the phoney war stage of the transfer window. In this uneasy status quo clubs are looking at what — and hence who — they need, depending on their objectives, while agents are furiously agenting and thirteen year olds are shit-posting on social media about you selling your favourite player to your biggest rival for nothing (EXCLUSIVE, siren emoji!!).

Everyone who’s anyone knows that this is generally a terrible time to shop; almost always sellers are strong, and buyers are generally desperate. In a Leeds United context, the list of both failed and realised January calamities runs into the god knows what, none of them worth wasting much ink on, as the relative career trajectories of Dele Alli and Harry Winks will tell you.

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