I'll have 4 economy tickets to LBA per favore

By Ryan Ingham

Never in my years of twitter have I sat and frantically refreshed the words #lufc as much as I have in the past two days. My thumb is sore and I have gained square eyes trying to generate a perspective on this turbulent pre season.

With our star striker asking to leave and enough Italians to make a Yorkshire goodfellas linked to our once enticing club, I haven't a clue what's actually going on. Like many Leeds fans I've hit Wikipedia like a drunk girl hits the deck in heels, it's not graceful. The problem with scarcely known players joining our club is the mystery of whether they will actually be any good.

Leeds in the past have been troubled with plenty of unknown entities turning up for training and not really hitting the ground running. If you whisper the name "Roque Junior" at Elland Road each LUFC fan can be seen shivering in terror at the mistake we made in signing him.

I'll now drop a few names into the pot and see if any jump out at you; Pavoletti, Bianchi, Silvestri and Bellusci. Apart from small stories and links from twitter pages we don't know if these deals are in place or as usual it's a wind up. The YEP have already reported about two of these players (Silvestri and Bellusci) and both do seem to be an improvement on what we currently have in the squad.

Marco Silvestri- a young Italian goalkeeper who has represented his country in the Under 21's and has plenty of first team experience for clubs including: Reggiana, Padova and Cagliari. At 24 years old he is still at a very young age and can only improve if he gets his opportunities and confidence up. Reports are saying a fee of £450k could be agreed and this could be a bargain.

Leonardo Pavoletti- the 25 year old has just come back from a very successful loan spell at Varese where he bagged 24 goals in 33 matches. He has now returned to parent club Sassuolo where he is seemingly not wanted. As I was writing this twitter again exploded with the news he had followed fellow compatriot Bellusci on twitter, with people saying the pair are signing for the whites imminently. I suggest checking him out on YouTube, the guy can finish!

Giuseppe Bellusci- at 24 year old his experience does not come from his age but his 99 appearances for Seria B team Catania. Dubbed as 'the Warrior' by his clubs fans he has been a strong centre back in their squad. Today has seen the defender retweet and favourite a lot of tweets from LUFC fans fuelling the speculation he is on his way. A friend of his even tweeted saying something on the lines of "good luck at Leeds United". I for one think he could be a brilliant addition to a somewhat unstable defence which sometimes lacks fight.

Tomasso Bianchi- 25 year old and can play at centre mid or on the left wing. Apparently a player with a good passing ability and has had a good season behind him on loan at Modena. Another player from the ranks at Sassuolo so unless a double deal is made I can't see us prizing two players away from the same club.

Along with these players we have been linked with Daniel Cacia- Chievo, Nichola Murru- Cagliari, Ibraimi- Cagliari and Mirco Antennuci- Ternana Calcio. With a lot of unknowns coming in I remember the year we were relegated from the Premiership and we simply did not know who was going to start the first game of the season.  But with the likes of Mowatt, Murphy, Pearce, Byram, C. Taylor, Smith, throw in a few of the youngsters and skipper McCormack (if he does stay) then we should have a platform for a side that takes a year to gel together and pull out some good results. I'm not promising fireworks but neither am I condemning us to a relegation brawl.

A final word on our new Head Coach. Yes, as we can all agree this is not a popular appointment and we were all scratching our head when we found out he was in the running. But every manager has to get one chance at the big time. We need to get past the fact he hasn't been a Champions League winner or even a JPT finalist but he's had a good coaching experience and I for one want to see what he can do with a big(ish) club.

Let's get behind the boys as we always do and cheer any of the new lads that want to pull on the White shirt this season and show that we are the force that drives this club not a Sardinian Ferrari merchant who was bored with his Fiat.

MOT

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