Keeping hold of Ross McCormack is something Massimo Cellino said he desperately wanted to do and one of the things many Leeds United fans were planning to judge the early days of his Elland Road revolution on, but when Fulham tabled an offer said to be worth £11m, there was only going to be one outcome.

While his departure became inevitable as the offers reached eight figures – the highest fee Leeds United have received for a player since Rio Ferdinand joined Manchester United in 2002 – McCormack’s departure is nonetheless disappointing and leaves a quality void Leeds United will struggle to fill.

Our star striker joining a Championship rival is a worrying sign, one which highlights the imbalance caused by Premier League parachute payments and respective spending power of those with and without a bonus effectively awarded for failure. Once again, the cash awarded to the club’s coming down isn’t used as a parachute to soften the blow, but an opportunity to outspend their Championship rivals and secure promotion back to the Premiership at the first attempt.

But Leeds can’t afford to dwell on the loss of McCormack or the injustice of the Premier League’s ill-conceived fix to silence media pressure, attention now turns to our own rebuilding project and this kind of money could go a long way to balancing a squad which had weaknesses in several key areas last season and was effectively carried by McCormack’s high-scoring exploits.

The immediate concern will be where the goals come from, but of equal importance is fixing the incredibly poor defence and adding some width and creativity to a side which has desperately lacked in both since the days of Max Gradel and Robert Snodgrass.

There wasn’t a good time for McCormack to leave Elland Road, but it could have been much worse than this. Losing him at the start of the transfer window is like ripping off the sticky plaster – the immediate pain of hearing the news will be healed by a succession of exciting signings who’ll help lead us back to the promised land. Hopefully.

On and on…