Sargent starts a friendly with Hoffenheim in his first match since Copa America. Hopefully back close to 100% after some rest.
https://www.footballinsider247.com/leeds-united-are-working-on-signing-top-striker-expert/ I mean, I don't consider FI a great source, but members of the press continue to push the notion that Leeds are pursuing Sargent.
Don't really want to see him run it back with NCFC but it's not up to me. Time to move to a first division again.
Ended 2-2. Sarge played the first half, it ended 2-0 for Hoffenheim. The German club changed the team for the second, and Sarge also came out for Nor'ich.
Not necessarily be a bad move IMO. With a defence that was 2nd best by just a fraction and the attack was the 3rd best in the division, Leeds played more than well enough to get automatic promotion last season. The problem was Bamford couldn't stay fit, especially in the run-in when he finished only 1 of the last 8 games, was a late sub in another and missed the last 2 entirely. Unsurprisingly, Leeds lost 4 and drew 2 of those games, missing promotion by just 6 points. Bamford is an injury-prone 31 year-old and, with one exception, none of the other strikers has convinced and the only thing Rutter has convinced anyone of is that he's an outrageously overpriced flop. Someone like Josh, who plays equally well at striker or wide right is going to plug a big gap in their lineup: if Bamford is fit, he plays out wide and comes inside to link with and create for the striker. If Bamford is injured, he starts and scores. Either way it'll be for a coach who knows and values him from Norwich, and at a club with money to invest (parachute payments, a new investor, player sales).
Leeds have just sold Summerville to West Ham. He scored 20 goals last season - almost a quarter of their total - and at £25 million has gone for a good deal of money Leeds have a gap to fill and money to spend. Very possible
Started and played 67' in a 3-1 friendly loss yesterday: Today's line-up 👇 pic.twitter.com/Dj5wG0eVQt— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) August 3, 2024
Not much in it between the two teams, both top of Championship. Leeds has illusions of grandeur but, It’s a push really , unless of course he would be getting a better wage at Leeds. I’m a Canary fan so a bit biased but, he has a young family and if his level is top of championship/ relegation EPL team then he is at a similar place now so no real reason for a lateral move other than money. His best case at Leeds is what he already has at Norwich. Starting nine, center of the attacking focus, well regarded by fan base and a good chance at EPL in future. Grass is always greener and all that. He can do 20-25 goals a year at Norwich and they won’t give him the Leeds McKennie treatment.
The only thing ins Leeds favor is that they still have parachute payments coming in... I think last season was the end for Norwich, so they'll have to get conservative in their spending.
Leeds: The club is more dynamic than Norwich. The fans in Norwich are a lot better but it's not a club that invests a lot in staying up, when they do get into prem. Leeds should be pretty good this year with the only problem I see being Summerville's sale. ---aaronson, sarge, joseph, rutter, gnonto, james---should be a decent attack in Ch/ship. Rutter has come good (Marsch, project, right?) but as a 10 - scores and assists. The other guy who scores is Joseph. You can see Rutter's assist and goal here v. Valencia in last pre-season match. Leeds blow Valencia away with two of pre-season's best goals - Yahoo Sports
NCFC fans were awful to Sargent his first two years. Once he was finally allowed to play CF and started to score the attitude change but it was entirely predicated on performance. Sargent arrived young, playing at a high level for a crap team and played out of position and wasn’t shown a lot of grace. Not sure I buy the NCFC are the salt of the earth narrative Im reading here. Perform well and the fans love you anywhere.
It was always going to be hard to win fans over when you arrive on the back of a promotion season and your team gets worked all year and ultimately relegated. Fans will always have the hope, false or not, that they'll do better than reality dictates.
Fan's kinda suck everywhere, especially the vocal ones. I do think Leeds fans have been overly negative to our players. They still can't stop blaming Mckennie for all of their problems. They are some of the worst.
I believe Leeds are still interested in Sarge but it's a matter of price if they want to sign him. He went 90? That's a good start. Rutter and Aaronson will find him for goals at Leeds.
They also have new, deep-pocketed owners in 49ers Enterprises whose controlling shareholders also own the San Francisco 49ers. There's no shortage of money there. Norwich, by contrast, are have a self-financing business model that's unlikely to change for the simple reason that Delia Smith & hubby are certainly very rich, but they don't have the money to pump into Norwich year after year. All things being equal if Leeds make an offer, he should take it
Okay, so, today is the last day of the MLS' transfer window. MLS twitter is exploding with reports that various MLS teams have put in bids for Sargent, with St Louis and FCC being the two most serious teams. However, "Tommy Scoops" says these are all preliminary talks, and that Sargent is unlikely to move back to the US this window: From what I'm told on USMNT forward Josh Sargent: A bunch of MLS teams have called about him. @GregOK reported St. Louis and Cincinnati among those calling.Nothing is going to happen before tonight's deadline, but one to watch in future. Would be very expensive, of course pic.twitter.com/IbfrIqgHwj— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) August 14, 2024 Buried in an Atlantic article about MLS interest in Sargent is a nugget: Bournemouth are allegedly considering Sargent as a possible Solanke replacement.
The possibility of Josh moving has another factor to consider, namely that Delia Smith and her husband have sold up at Norwich and the club is now now owned by her American partner. Probably too late to affect Norwich's transfer spending in this window, but it'll have implications for the wage structure and the willingness to give a player a pay rise to prevent him agitating for a move