Writing his weekly column in the Independent, Neil Warnock appears to suggest West Bromwich striker Chris Wood was on his radar. Wood is close to moving to Leicester City. Does this mean that 2013 is going to be another frustrating year for the Leeds boss and the fans.
Warnock looked forward to January 1st and our encounter with Bolton, managed by his former player Dougie Freedman and wrote: "We've also got the transfer window opening and we'll be trying to make some signings straight-away. It looks like I've missed out on Chris Wood — I just can't compete financially with Leicester City — but I'm hoping to tie up some of the players I've had on loan."
Wood, who has been in prolific form whilst on-loan at Millwall has all but agreed a deal to switch to big spending Leicester City in a deal thought to have cost the Foxes around £1.5m.
Added to the quote in the Yorkshire Post from Director Salem Patel, the reality surely is that Leeds will not be buying big come January particularly given the timely release of their latest financial results which showed a sharp decline in profits?
Patel said: "Looking at the business from a profitability aspect, the club is making money. Not many in the Championship can say that. (But) looking from a cash flow perspective, which is something that I feel a lot of fans don’t do, then that is where you can see there is an area of weakness.”
Warnock has however insisted the days of Leeds being open for the January sales are over, the bitter taste of Johnny Howson's move to Norwich still rankles with some supporters. However given Patel's gloomy "cash flow" assessment and reports that Wigan will offer £4m for Luciano Becchio, that too remains to be seen.