The genius Leeds United loan deal that could help Whites ensure swift Premier League return
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With the transfer window entering its final week, Leeds United have finally started making moves to spend some of the money they’ve made from selling the stars of last season’s run to the play-off final. The left flank, in particular, is getting a makeover with wingers Largie Ramazani and Manor Solomon arriving at Elland Road – and they don’t seem to be done just yet.
Reports from the Netherlands suggest that Leeds are one of a few sides interested in striking a deal with Ajax for unwanted left-back Owen Wijndal, once regarded as one of Dutch football’s brightest prospects but now in effective exile from the Amsterdam side’s squad after some disappointing form since joining from AZ Alkmaar back in 2022.
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Hide AdAccording to Transfer Watch, one of the local outlets covering the story, any deal for Wijndal would likely be an initial loan with an option to buy included, and while Galatasaray and Rayo Vallecano are also interested it seems that the player himself would prefer a move to England. Assessing the veracity of the story isn’t easy, but the fact that multiple media outlets in the Netherlands are carrying it suggests at least some fire to go along with the smoke.
Wijndal’s name may be familiar to those who follow youth development on the continent – a highly-touted prospect as a teenager, the left-back made his debut for AZ at 17 and made the first of 11 appearances for the national side by at the age of just 20. Now 24, however, Wijndal’s career has stalled out and if Leeds do sign him it must be viewed as a reclamation project, a one-time wonderkid who hasn’t lived up to the hype.
When Wijndal burst onto the scene, he was noted for his quick burst of acceleration, his impressive technique, quality of passing and his creativity, and over the course of his last season at AZ – his best season to date – he notched up 10 assists in the Eredivisie. It was that season’s performances that persuaded Ajax to spend £8.4m on him despite question marks over his application on the pitch. There was a perception that when caught dawdling high up the pitch or out of possession, he wasn’t prepared to put all that pace into action to track back and make tackles.
A promising start to life at the Johann Cruijff ArenA didn’t lead to lasting success and last season he was loaned out to Belgian Pro League champions Royal Antwerp, playing 27 games during their disappointing title defence. It would be a stretch to say that he shone during his time in Belgium and he certainly didn’t hit his creative heights (he scored once but didn’t create a single goal for his club), but he was also played in a much more defensive role that he was used to and the stats suggest that he was still passing the ball precisely, crossing it accurately and keeping play moving quickly down the left flank.
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Hide AdWijndal’s natural game sees him spending a lot of time marauding upfield, sticking close to the byline but getting into the box when he reaches the final third. His pace and willingness to run with the ball aren’t quite matched by the technical capacity to beat defenders one-on-one, but his excellent passing game and vision mean that he can make great use of one-twos to surge forward down the flank or to play the left winger ahead of him in behind the defence – and when he does he get into crossing positions, he’s dangerous, completing 25% of his crosses last season which is comfortably above par.
He's also a good tackler who is more than capable of doing good work on the defensive side of the ball, especially in one-on-one situations where he excels. He had a ‘win rate’ of over 60% in such situations for three consecutive seasons in the Netherlands. The issue is that he doesn’t track back hard and can be caught out of position, which leads to a low overall volume of tackles and turnovers and the those persistent accusations of laziness. He certainly looks like a player who needs to up his work rate to live up to his potential, but perhaps the right coach can eke that out of him.
A more immediate question for Leeds fans is how he stacks up against the current options at left-back. Presumably his signing would see the right-footed Sam Byram move to the right side of defence on a more permanent basis, so the key comparison is with Junior Firpo.
Going forward, Wijndal should have a slight edge over the former Barcelona full-back. He completes 7% more passes and more of them go forward and into the final third, although in the final accounting they both created a similar number of chances to each other (around 2.5 shooting opportunities per match) last season. Wijndal is a slightly stronger runner and dribbler who also finds space upfield a little more easily, but there isn’t a huge difference in output between the two in the last couple of years since Wijndal’s excellent final campaign with AZ.
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Hide AdFirpo, meanwhile, does far more effective work as an actual defender. He averages the better part of twice the number of tackles and interceptions that Wijndal manages and is even more effective in one-on-ones – Firpo managed a staggeringly impressive 70.7% tackle percentage last season when challenged by opposing ball-carriers.
On paper, the current version of Wijndal isn’t an upgrade on Firpo, but he does have the potential to offer much more than he has since moving to Ajax. He has the pace and creativity to be a huge threat behind Ramazani or Solomon and has the quality needed to be a fine defender as well. He just needs a coach to help him get his positioning right and to help him get motivated once more.
If the reports are true and Leeds are in the hunt, then an initial loan move makes a great deal of sense. If Daniel Farke can get the best out of Wijndal then he could be a tremendous long-term signing, and if he struggles or simply doesn’t put the hard yards in, then Leeds still have both Firpo and Byram on the books and little harm has been done, although there’s no word on what kind of loan fee might be required to complete the deal.
We’ll know by the end of Friday whether the Dutch media have their facts straight - but won’t know for some months whether Leeds fans should be excited by Wijndal’s potential or frustrated by his failure to apply it properly. The ceiling on the deal, however, seems high.
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