Bye Bye Luciano, Hello Habibou‏

By Mike Courtney

Following the euphoria of our excellent cup win over Spurs on Sunday our thoughts return to the impending closure of the transfer window and the possibly comings and goings from the club.

Much has been written about the future of Luciano Becchio over the past week and it now looks inevitable that he will depart before the window closes, once the Club's valuation of him is met. Personally I will be sad to see him go as he has been a great servant to the club over the last 4 years or so and my 3 yr old daughter has just learned the Luciano oh oh song and sings it constantly, but he is 29yrs old and looking for one last big contract and you can't really blame him for that.

The most important thing is that we re-invest the money in a suitable replacement immediately and not have to listen to the usual "Oh the transfer went through so late that we did'nt have time" rubbish that has been bandied about at the end of recent transfer windows. Some of the names we've been linked with don't really set the world on fire, Aruna Dindane and the brillantly named Habib Habibou to name but two. For me Dindane is a short term option and not the type of payer we need at this point in time. I know very little about Habib Habibou but have looked him up online and at 6ft 4in and 25yrs old he might be worth a punt, he looks a bit like Drogda and if he is half the player he was we won't be doing too bad. Some reports state that a bid has been accepted by his club Zulte Waregem (Who the hell are Zulte Waregem) for whom he has scored 20 goals in 57 appearences in the Belgian League. Ok its not exactly Seria A or La Liga but who amongst us had heard of Becchio before he signed or Davide Somma for that matter.

Another player that we are reported to be on the verge of signing is England International Stephen Warnock, a main stay of my fantasy football teams for the past few seasons before he fell out with Paul Lambert at Villa. Left back has been a problem position for us for a few years now and though Aidy played well there against Spurs, the arrival of a proven Premier League defender and International would be a welcome boost to the squad and show the intent on GFH to invest in quality players. We appear to have beaten off the challenge of West Ham by offering him a long term deal and his arrival is imminent if reports elewhwere are to be believed.

Even with the addition of those few players and the short term loan of Ross Barkley from Everton I believe we are still short of one or two quality signings, particularly on the flanks, to enable us to compete for promotion this season.

If we can compete like we did against Spurs week in week out in the League and continue our winning run at home, starting against table toppers Cardiff on Saturday and improve our away form I think we can be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. There are alot of if's and but's though and knowing Leeds there will be many twists and turns between now and the end of the season. Throw in the added bonus or distraction if you like of a trip to Eastlands in a few weeks to get the juices flowing and to make it another interesting few weeks for us Leeds fans all over the world.
 
MOT Leeds Leeds Leeds

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