Why Leeds United missed a trick by not signing Ryan Kent this summer

After months of speculation, Liverpool winger Ryan Kent finally secured a £7million permanent switch to Rangers on deadline day.

Ryan Kent, 22, impressed at Ibrox while on loan from Liverpool last season, scoring six goals and laying on six assists in the Scottish Premiership. Steven Gerrard wanted to bring the speedy winger for the 2019/20 campaign having not hidden his interest in the player throughout the summer.

Now that Kent has signed on the dotted line with Steven Gerrard’s side he will be now hoping to guide them to the Scottish Premiership title. Last season, he did well to help the Gers produce the goods for the first half of the campaign, but they fell away towards the end, something they will be looking to put right.

Prior to the 22-year-old securing a permanent move to Rangers, the Express reports Leeds United were interested in signing him and had a £4.5million bid for the player rejected by the Reds.

In the end, the Whites settled with Eddie Nketiah, Helder Costa, Jack Clarke – returning on loan from Tottenham – and Jack Harrison all on loan.

Leeds United have made a strong start to Marcelo Bielsa’s second season in charge. They are third in the Championship table with 13 points from their first six league games of the season.

It is a known fact that Bielsa prefers to work with a thin squad, with Leeds having one of the Championship’s smaller groups at their disposal.

Despite watching his team struggle in the second half of last season due to fatigue and a number of injuries and eventually missing out on promotion, Bielsa, who had the opportunities to strengthen the squad depth, opted against doing it. The veteran Argentinean should’ve at least signed another centre-back and an attacker to boost his squad.

As far as the attacker is concerned, Kent should’ve been that player. Leeds undoubtedly have a lot of wingers but Kent could have added something more than the ones Bielsa has at his disposal.

Having progressed through the ranks at Liverpool, the 22-year-old struggled for first-team minutes during his time with the Reds and left for Rangers earlier this month.

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Kent is a top talent; young, fresh, dynamic and is only going to get better, so Gerrard and Rangers have got a gem of a player on their books now.

One could argue that the 22-year-old would have struggled to get regular minutes at Leeds due to high competition, but the matter of fact is Bielsa’s system and style of play would have suited the Oldham-born star.

Verdict

Truly, Leeds have missed a big trick by not signing a top talent like Kent, who has a massive potential to grow into a world-class player.