Leeds United: Joe Rodon signs permanently from Spurs
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00:00Yes, but if we move on, of course, Leeds did get a signing from Tottenham in return.
00:06Obviously, as you said before, a separate deal, not a swap deal.
00:09But the one we'd mentioned just before we had our summer break about whether he would return to Leeds following his spell on loan with the club last season,
00:17of course, we'd mentioned Joe Rodon, how he might come back from Tottenham and how that would be a priority for Leeds this summer.
00:24They've gone and done that, so as much as they've lost a big asset in Archie Gray,
00:28they have already checked off one of their priorities for the summer in bringing Joe Rodon on a permanent signing from Tottenham.
00:35Yes, that's an absolutely huge signing.
00:38I've got to say, that seems like a snip of a price as well, I think, at £10 million.
00:44I know, obviously, strikers and wingers and whatnot and people who've got goals quite often command the higher transfer fees.
00:51With Rodon, it's basically because he only had one year left on his deal at Spurs.
00:54Also, he's a little bit older, 26, but 26 for a centre-back, it's not like he's knocking on, is it, really?
00:59He's got plenty of time ahead of him.
01:01It was brilliant for Leeds to even have him on loan last season.
01:05I think even if he'd have come back on loan again, I think people would have been happy with that, just to have him in the squad.
01:09But let alone to go and get him on a permanent, on a four-year deal for £10 million, that's superb business.
01:15It felt like, obviously, the main priority is to try and keep what you've got.
01:20We'll come to that again in a minute with people like Somerville.
01:22But in terms of who you want to go and get, there's no doubt that he would have surely been at the top of the tree in terms of targets and stuff to get him in.
01:27That's a huge signing.
01:30Pretty much every single game last season impressed me.
01:33There were a couple of games where, obviously, everybody let themselves down and whatnot.
01:38But more often than not, Rodon was very, very impressive.
01:41He was almost always a 7-8, sometimes a 9-10 player.
01:45He just looks a very, very good centre-half to me.
01:48I said a few times on there before, he reminds me a bit of Woodgate.
01:50The way he's so commanding and stuff, and his aerial ability and whatever.
01:54I think he could probably score goals and stuff, going up for set-pieces and stuff.
01:57That's something that will hopefully come.
01:59He strikes me, again, as someone who could be captain very, very easily.
02:03I think Leeds are quite good now in terms of getting leaders in.
02:06Obviously, Ampadu as well, and Pascal has been given the armband recently.
02:09There's lots of leaders within camp at a time when, obviously,
02:12Liam Cooper's future is unclear.
02:15Above all else, he's just a fantastic signing.
02:17I think, put simply, he looks like a better player than a championship player.
02:22But that's probably what you want, really.
02:24Because if you've got players in your team that are better than championship players,
02:27then, obviously, the end goal will hopefully be that you reach the Premier League.
02:30Getting people like that in is the way to do it.
02:32The other thing that's obvious with Joe Rodon coming in on a permanent deal
02:36is that it frees up Ampadu.
02:38Because, obviously, Ampadu have to drop back into centre-half when Pascal was injured.
02:42Pascal, to all extents and purposes, looks like he's back in training,
02:45and training very, very well now.
02:47He should soon be back.
02:48The idea would be, I suppose, and the hope would be,
02:50that you'd have Pascal Stroik and Joe Rodon forming a formidable partnership at the back.
02:55There's no reason why that shouldn't be the case, really.
02:57Leeds were very, very good defensively at times last season,
03:00and it sort of slipped away a bit towards the end.
03:03But Daniel Farker always said that success at Leeds,
03:06and that all his clubs would be built on the strong defences,
03:08albeit he is known for trying to get a good attack in football as well.
03:12Put simply, with those two at the back,
03:14plus with Ampadu having an option of dropping back into centre-half as well,
03:18they should be very, very well covered at centre-back.
03:21Right-back is one that still would worry you a little bit,
03:24because, obviously, having gone and stuff,
03:26it puts a lot of dependency on Sam Byron.
03:30So, we'll wait and see what happens there.
03:32But, certainly, with the centre-back situation,
03:34I think they should be pretty well covered there,
03:36unless you get a fair few going, i.e. Creswell and stuff like that.
03:39Rodon coming in is just a brilliant signing.
03:41I don't think there's any doubt about that.
03:43I wouldn't say...
03:44Well, I think it probably did soften the blow a little bit of losing Archie.
03:47I think if Archie just went and that was it,
03:49then, obviously, people are and still will be upset and heartbroken by it,
03:53but at least having Rodon coming in the other way,
03:56and announced at the same time on the same day,
03:58I think that definitely put a brighter gloss on it, if you like,
04:02in terms of, well, Archie's gone, you wish him all the best,
04:05but PSR sorted, and not only is PSR sorted,
04:07or PSR fears somewhat allayed,
04:10we've now got a brilliant player, permanent player in Joe Rodon.
04:13We said about it being almost like Ben White Part 2,
04:16like, obviously, how well he did on loan at Leeds,
04:19and he, obviously, quite rightly went out
04:21and tried to get him the following summer,
04:23and that didn't happen, because he was so good, basically.
04:25I think a lot of people feared the same might happen with Joe Rodon,
04:28but they managed to get it done,
04:29and that's despite other interest from Premier League teams.
04:32I think the three teams that all went up looked to IMIPS,
04:34which, I'm led to believe, put in a verbal offer for him,
04:37and despite that, he's stuck at Leeds,
04:39so that speaks volumes about his commitment to the cause,
04:42what he thinks of the place,
04:44and, again, he wouldn't be signing for the club
04:46if he didn't think this team were going up.
04:48Leeds are favourites to win the division, and quite clearly so,
04:53and it's signings like that, really,
04:55which should hopefully justify that position,
04:57but we know how hard the Championship is, Daniel, don't we?
05:00So he won't get carried away.
05:01Well, as I say, last season was quite the season indeed,
05:04and we've probably had enough of talking about it,
05:05so I won't go into too much detail again,
05:07but I think you hit the nail on the head there,
05:10saying that if you want to go up,
05:12you need to buy players who are perhaps too good for the Championship as well,
05:15because they'll have that quality,
05:17and Joe Rodon clearly is one of those who,
05:19let's be honest, was perhaps never going to get his chance at Tottenham,
05:22but he was perhaps still too good to not be,
05:26at least competing to be back in the Premier League,
05:29or at least in the Premier League in some description,
05:31so I think going back to Leeds,
05:33given he knows the club and given the season he had there last year,
05:35is probably the right move for him.