Leeds Sign Lee Peltier

Aug 4th, 2012 32 Comments

Leeds have signed Leicester City right-back Lee Peltier on a 3 year deal for a fee reported to be around £500,000. Peltier had been linked with Leeds earlier in the season, but his transfer fee left Warnock with problems completing the move with Leeds quite cash-strapped until the neverending takeover is complete. Leeds have beaten off Simon Grayson’s Huddersfield who were determined to sign Peltier, apparently as a defensive midfielder, before being priced out.

The 25-year-old was an ever-present in Leicester City’s side last season, making 44 appearances following his £750,000 summer transfer from Huddersfield Town. However new Leicester manager Nigel Pearson has opted to mould his expensive squad to his image and that means – according to rumours earlier this summer – replacing Peltier with Hull City’s Liam Rosenior, who Pearson worked with at Hull City in 2010-11.

Leeds were set to profit from Leicester’s position, with a cut-price deal in the region of £300,000 being on the cards at one point, but with Huddersfield’s interest and no money to complete the deal with, Leeds had to wait. Matt Mills has since been sold at a knock-down rate and Leicester decided they wanted to recoup more of what they paid for Peltier.

Peltier rounds off a fresh defence that many fans seem to think looks our strongest for years. Paddy Kenny and Jamie Ashdown bring a wealth of experience between the sticks while 25 year old Peltier joins 24 year old Jason Pearce, 21 year old Tom Lees and 33 year old Adam Drury, with 25 year old ex-England under 21 Martin Cranie hoping for a contract, to make up a surprisingly young defence considering Neil Warnock’s supposed transfer policy that some complained would result in decrepit journeymen being signed. Peltier joining Drury at full-back will also provide some decent pace and ability to support attacks, with White and Connolly in reserve, which also goes against what certain commentators have claimed Warnock is building at Leeds.

Transfers (IN) so far

Name Pos Age From Est Cost
Jason Pearce CB 24 Portsmouth £500,000
Adam Drury LB 33 Norwich City £0
Paul Green CM 29 Derby County £0
Paddy Kenny GK 34 QPR £450,000
Andy Gray FW 34 Barnsley £0
Jamie Ashdown GK 31 Portsmouth £0
Rodolph Austin CM 27 SK Brann £300,000
Luke Varney FW 29 Portsmouth £300,000
David Norris CM 31 Portsmouth £0
Lee Peltier RB 25 Leicester City £500,000
£2,050,000
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Lifelong Leeds fan. First matches were in the O'Leary-era. Grew up watching Peter Reid, the French foreign legion and Roque Junior. Then Michael Ricketts. Consequently, I'm a bit tapped.

  • http://www.thescratchingshed.com/ TSS

    Kenny aside, we’ve only spent money on players under 30. Warnock being as frugal as ever.

    • mattbb2

      correction, with £450,000 for Clayton, £200,000 for Lonergn, £3m for snodgrass, saved wafges for Bruce, O’Brien, Sam, Forrssell, Vayrynen – we’ve spent zip – we’re in the black by nearly £1m

      • Decky Quinn

        we did not get 3 million up front for snoddy. In and around the 1.5 million mark up front most sources say.

      • Ventra

        Always good when you spend less money than you you actually have! Generally means you won’t go bust again!

  • http://www.facebook.com/greggreggregish Greg

    Spending money on players under 30 and getting players on frees over 30 with experience in The Championship. No problem with that.

  • Matthew

    We’re speanding money on players? Is Ken Bates unwell or something?

    Or is Warnock intercepting transfer money headed for monaco and speanding on players LOL

    • Matthew

      Joking aside, think we’re almost done as far as transfers go, another striker, and maybe a new midfield player and thats it?

      Now all thats left is for Barn Door Billy to piss off to Doncaster and it’d be a good transfer window for us, and another high earner off the books.

  • Bluesman

    Another good en in then. I hope that the takeover is completed soon and we can have a couple of star sighings to put the icing on the cake, as NW stated. Still, a very strong defence on paper and capable of going all the way. I just hope that they can get their parnerhships working quickly, but it will take time for them to all click. Looking forward to next season though! (Provided that Bates is no longer around)

  • Tim Campbell

    FThe side looks good thus far – a brucie bonus for me looks like the form young dominic poleon has shown in pre-season VERY PACEY!

  • Tare

    Okay for the BS owners what next, this is a real sign of new owners ambition and next one will come…. Tare

  • Michael Lazarou

    Good signing pelteir , but now NW you got to bring in 2 attacking flare players with pace and Power to fit in with your solid defence and midfiled , we can’t just be solid in matches we need the players that going to turn solid performances from draws to wins, we have to have them players in are team to be able to challenge for automatic promotion to the pl ! We have to replace snoody attacking skill with some one the same ability or better plus another 20plus striker, and keep the strikers that we got, only then that I will be happy that we got a squad to challenge for pl , anther wise Ivan see us putting in good performances but only getting draws where another top teams with good attacking players getting wins

  • Henry V

    Still lack real quality in all areas.
    It will be a dull, disappointing season, as it stands now.
    This takeover is getting beyond a joke.

  • Tare

    Who says that we can not replace Snoddy? If the money is there then nothing is impossible. After all Snoddy was a perfect footie payer but lacked the essence of the trade; that is called pace. Very easily to man marked with two or three guys so do we miss him????? But the icing of the cake I am waiting for it like everybody here and no doubts here from my side. Tare

    • Iriving08

      Pace is overrated. The two best teams in the Euros (Spain and Italy) were not noticeably pacey. Collective ball control, i.e. passing, will always trump pace.

      • Tare

        Yep but we are talking Championship game here mate, kick and rush in perfect sense. I agree that in top footie countries today like Spain they do pace the game at will and why; they have excellent 10 field players just like Brazil 1970 WC team and DRs band of brothers 1968-1974. So to make any comparisons here is just whether you like a daughter or a mother. Tare

  • lufcMirfield

    I do hold a slight concern that he left Htfc for Lcfc but 1 year later he’s not good enough for them. Also Htfc claim he wasn’t worth the money? Time will tell!

    • http://www.thescratchingshed.com/ TSS

      Every time a team loses any player their fans say that. Look at our lot with Howson (went missing, apparently), Snoddy (allegedly too slow) and Johnson (various insults).

  • Wigstonfox

    forget the £500K rumours the word here is having already turned down £660k from both Leeds & Huddersfield we had no reason to sell.LCFC took a hit on Mills as he was a “bad egg” but the figure being reported down here is £850k. Not saying that is up front as I doubt it is, yes £500k up front, but with add on etc, I think you’ll find the deal is nearer the £850K mark. As for Peltier the player, he’s a steady performer, looks better going forward than he does defensively, hence pearson bring in De Laet from Man Utd as his 1st choice right back.Pelts was only ever going to be a back up right back this season so good luck to him looking to push on elsewhere.Pelts is not blessed with great pace, but does like to get forward, getting back is his big problem, as I say his defensive qualities are a little suspect to say the least. Those of you who saw the Leic, Leeds game at the KP last season may well remember both goals we conceeded where down to Pelts, first the shot from Snoddy, from a short rigt wing corner, and the second as he was out jumped by that giant of a man Max Gradel.

    • TimPM

      Well a Times journo said it was 400k and not all of that was guaranteed. So I split half-way. He’s more reliable than the rumours that were doing the rounds before.

    • http://www.thescratchingshed.com/ TSS

      “That giant of a man Max Gradel” Haha. He was a beast, wasn’t he?

      All our concentration has been on defensive players so far so we really need someone who can get forward and create something. Happy with the signing.

    • Matthew

      Doubt its 850k, Huddersfield pulled out. That automatically lowers the asking price with only 1 club in for him.

      Season starts soon, Leicester wanted him gone.

      This basically means if the most Huddersfield were offering is 600k, we could offer slightly lower now that theyve moved on.

  • derbyshire white

    Think you’re mistaken fella. It was 1-0 to the whites last year (Clayton from distance). Previous year Snoddy and Max scored but Peltier wasn’t on the pitch.

    • http://www.thescratchingshed.com/ TSS

      You’re right, it was Kyle Naughton that day (on loan from Spurs)

  • Gordo Strach

    Great signing!! My auld one could burn Paul Connolly. The team is really starting to take shape! If we get a goal scorer and a George Boyd type I can see us really pushing!! Heart is broken with the takeover!

  • Name*

    Squad now probably good enough to stay up. Sold howson and snoddy and spent half the money on some decent players. Nothing special. Bates is still in charge! We should have enough cash to spend another 2m..we will probably sell McCormack . The moment snoddy went we knew that no major takeover was happening.

  • Tare

    Just read between the lines mate, new owners will never jeopardize the club’s position in any business transaction e.g. they have given NW the funds to make his job and objective which is the PL. Tare

  • saltburnwhite

    Lee peltier was assigned squad number 15 for the coming Leicester season obviously pearson had a feeling he was going to leave , if you look at the Leicester squad numbers he looks like he has done what neil warnock has done and issued his first eleven numbers with what looks like his first team line up…………beckford has been issued number 20?

    looks like a positive sign of beckford possibly not being ‘Leicesters no 1 striker’ as his agent says?

    Leicester squad number for the forthcoming season…

    2012/13 Squad Numbers:

    1. Kasper Schmeichel
    2. Ritchie De Laet
    3. Paul Konchesky
    4. Danny Drinkwater
    5. Wes Morgan
    6. Zak Whitbread
    7. Ben Marshall
    8. Neil Danns
    9. Jamie Vardy
    10. Andy King
    11. Lloyd Dyer
    12. Sean St. Ledger
    13. Conrad Logan
    14. Martyn Waghorn
    15. Lee Peltier
    16. Matty James
    17. Paul Gallagher
    18. Jeff Schlupp
    19. Richie Wellens
    20. Jermaine Beckford
    21. Tom Hopper
    22. Liam Moore
    23. Tom Kennedy
    29. Marko Futacs
    35. David Nugent

  • Decky Quinn

    Just looking at the above Leicester squad numbers for the new season and although this maybe be controversial but there is a certain old name in the form of David Nugent that I think we should consider. Although he may not be known as a prolific goalscorer, he would be a very intriguing man to call upon for the last 20 mins of a match. His goal scoring record is nothing spectacular but at Preston he managed 35 goals in 93 games, which is a modest return. He has managed to get around 15 goals in his time at Leicester but I believe he could be a cheap (ish) option for Warnock to consider. I do not imagine that his wages would be too high but I could be totally wrong.

    Moving on to Peltier. Good signing in my opinion. Good age at 25, good bit of pace about him and a willingness to get forward to support attacks and get to the byeline. Good signing all round.

    But still we do look very thin in all areas, except maybe centre midfield which looks strong picking 2 or 3 (depending on chosen formation) from Brown, Austin, Norris, Green, Thompson, Pugh (I know, laughable that he is still about).

    Wide areas – White, Varney at the moment look to be the starters. This worries me as I dont think white is as good at left mid as he is at fullback and varney lacks any real skill to get at fullbacks. Warnock NEEDS an out and out winger. TEMPLETON?? Played very well today in reports I have skimmed through.

    Then the striker / attacking midfielder situation, Boyd being heavily linked, as is CMS. Doubtful that we will get both without having in excess of 2.5 million to spend which I dont think we have.

    All in all, this squad needs some marquee signings, along with possibly a couple of loan signings?? Season long loans can be very beneficial. Someone like Dobbie of Swansea or DJ Campbell of QPR, who have promotion experience would add to our squad without doubt.

    What do all of you think we need to finish the Warnock Rebuilding Jigsaw??

    MOT

  • Scortum

    I think that the (extremely protracted) takeover is going to drag on and on till after the current pre-season transfer window has closed, but that NW has been guaranteed enough funds to offer Ross M an improved contract (Snoddy wouldn’t accept it, we hope you will) AND make at least one ‘Marquee’ signing, which would ultimately be a new striker. A creative/attacking/flair midfielder would be a season long loanee, with an option to buy at the end of this season. The real show of strength by the new owners will come in January when they look to mount a promotion push through the strengthening of an already hard to break down and beat team, who are hopefully somewhere there, or thereabouts, and NW can identify and acquire the last 1 or 2 missing pieces! Hope I’m right!

  • Tim Campbell

    Max gradel and jermaine beckford’s return would finish off a gud foray into the transfer market. If we got our 2 boys back I’d definitely fancy us for automatic
    promotion this year. I’m getting good vibes about the coming season and bates has’nt even left yet. Now THATwould be my icing on the cake lol

  • decky quinn

    People that think that max gradel is going to come back must be living in dream land. There is more chance of another Brian Deane spell!

  • Old Goat

    NW might just stick at that for a few weeks, especially if we’re still under even modest spending constraints.
    Several who have been declared surplus to requirements – Conolly, Rachubka, Nunez, are still with us and the longer it goes the more likely we are to end up picking up at least part of their wages in the coming season even if someone comes in for them. All are strains on NW’s budget
    Kisnorbo and Bromby have come back (or are coming back) off major injuries relatively late in their careers. There’s no guarantee that either will return to previous form. They may become “dead payroll” however good their intentions and however well they have served us in the past.

    The striker situation depends heavily, as most of us agree,on
    (a) whether a deal can be struck with McCormack and
    (b) whether Somma is as good post-injury as his earlier promise indicated, though my understanding is he’s not expected to be match fit till maybe October.
    Meanwhile there’s not much out there that’s available. Maynard possibly. George Boyd possibly. Poyet says he not only intends to keep Craig M-S but also to sign another striker. Dave Kitson is now a free agent. In some ways I’m surprised NW hasn’t co-opted him as a cheap and cheerful short term solution until the McCormack/Somma positions are clearer. He’ll also want to see how some of the youngsters shape up. Wouldn’t surprise me if that’s it for right now but that some money will be available towards the end of the month if and where urgent needs are identified.

    Ironically, even after we’ve signed Peltier, the one area which still troubles me is RB as we seem to have no cover there as we do at LB. Sure, Lees can play RB up to a point, as can Bromby if/when fit and I seem to recall that young Taylor was tried there a couple of times but if Peltier gets crocked next weekend and Conolly isn’t part of the plan then it’s either loan market or three centre halves.

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