The legendary, Peter Lorimer

In a piece written for the Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds United legend, Peter Lorimer has shared his concerns about the depth of the current Leeds United squad. It’s a shared concern with many of the clubs fans who have also pointed to the squad size, despite seven new signings from Simon Grayson.

On the official site, we’re currently listed as having three goalkeepers and eleven defenders, with Alex Bruce still to be added. We do have a couple of injuries in defence at the moment, but this would seem to be an area that’s more than adequately covered.

Move on to the midfield however and it’s a different story. Since Robert Snodgrass is technically classed as a striker, Leeds United currently have just seven midfielders. More worryingly, is that this figure includes Max Gradel who is currently suspended, Andy Robinson who Simon Grayson has done his best to get rid of and Andy Hughes, who spent much of last season at left-back.

The striking department doesn’t seem massively competitive either. Here we’re listed as having five, one of which is Robert Snodgrass who looks set to miss a considerable part of the season after a horror tackle in Norway, Mike Grella, who is unlikely to see the starting XI too often and Tom Elliot who is unlikely to have much of an impact since he’s on loan to Rotherham.

That leaves Billy Paynter and Luciano Becchio. Obviously there’s no concerns when it comes to Becchio. He won’t be hitting 30 a season, but he’ll put a performance in every week and drive opposition defences mad. Billy Paynter should be a good addition too, but since he’s currently injured, Luci is the only regular first team striker we have available for opening day.

We do have Davide Somma too, but his exclusion from the first team list on the official site is worrying. I did wonder whether it just needed updating, but since new signings such as Bessone and Collins have already found their way on, this can’t be the case.

Overall, you have to agree with Peter Lorimer that the squad is looking threadbare. I know Simon Grayson is still hoping to bring a couple more in, and that loanee’s will undoubtedly be added at some point, but with opening day drawing closer, these new additions aren’t going to have much chance to gel with the squad.

Our injury list at the moment isn’t doing us no favours, but this is something we should be more than prepared for as a club of our stature. Injuries will only accumulate as the season goes on, and if we’re having trouble before it’s even began, then I think Peter Lorimer’s concerns are very well-founded.