Leeds United have already waved goodbye to their entire squad this summer, with four big names leaving Elland Road on loan and one still having a lot of work to do.
Leeds have sold Archie Gray, Kris Klaesson, Marco Roca, Diego Llorente and Charlie Cresswell on a permanent basis. Roca and Llorente have gone to Betis, Gray to Spurs, and Klaesson and Cresswell are out in Europe.
Liam Cooper, Cody Drameh and Ian Poveda are all out of contract but have yet to find a new club. Meanwhile, Jamie Shackleton and Lew Bate have joined Sheffield United and Stockport respectively on free transfers.
Since then, four players have gone on loan. Darko Gyabi has returned to Plymouth, while Sam Greenwood has also joined Championship side Preston. Jack Harrison has returned to Everton for a second campaign.
Leeds United loanee needs work, says manager
Another loanee is Sonny Perkins, with the 20-year-old returning to youth club Leyton Orient ahead of League One next season. Perkins got off to a good start and scored in the friendly.
Orient faced non-league side Hornchurch and despite having to wait until the 37th minute to score, they managed to win 7-0. Perkins grabbed his team’s second ball and scored from close range with a fine finish.
But manager Richie Wellens knows Perkins is not the finished article and spoke to Orient’s website after the win, stressing that there is a lot of work to do with the Leeds United forward.
“Obviously we’ve seen a lot of Sonny. He’s played centre-forward for West Ham. Really good in and around the box, penalties. He’s got a lot of things we can work on, a lot of things we can improve on.”
Make or break for Perkins next season if he wants a Leeds future
Former West Ham striker Perkins has so far failed to make it at Leeds. He was expected to be knocking on the first-team door straight away when he signed for West Ham after racking up high-profile appearances for the Hammers.
But he managed just four senior appearances in two years, including a goal against Cardiff City in the FA Cup. Relegation to the Championship may have helped some of the young players, but Perkins was not one.
Instead, he struggled on loan at Oxford for the first part of last season and returned to Leeds without being loaned out again. If he is to have a future at Leeds, he simply needs to make it bright at Orient in 2024-25.