Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch says he opted not to sign players such as James Milner from Liverpool as he wanted youth to be the foundation of his squad.
The American coach saved Leeds from relegation last season and will have a battle on his hands to keep them up this season as well.
Marsch has seen plenty of players arrive at Leeds since taking over at the Yorkshire club and most of them have been young players with room to develop, which the former RB Leipzig coach thinks is the hard way of doing things.
The “easy” option according to the Leeds boss, would have been signing an experienced Premier League talent such as Liverpool’s James Milner.
Jesse Marsch speaks about how he has built his squad at Leeds
“We’ve built this with young players,” Marsch told Leeds Live.
“We haven’t gone out one time and gotten an experienced, 30-year-old Premier League player because a lot of what we’re trying to do is build a process where we’re going to get stronger and stronger.
“We’re not just building a squad for right now, but for the development of what we want this club to become, which we think is the right strategy.”
Marsch went on to say: “It would have been easy along the way to bring James Milner back or try to do some things like this to bring in Premier League experience or veteran players that understand the league.
“In some ways, it’s a little bit braver where we’re at in what we’re doing. You could say risky, but we believe in believing a process where we’re going to pick up some good, young players, get them at a price where it still makes sense within our budget and help them to become Premier League stars, help them take the next step in their careers and, in the process, build this club to get bigger and stronger.”
It’s not ‘a little bit braver’ it’s incredibly stupid to pass up the chance to have James Milner on board. Revie, Wilko and O’Leary recruited Collins, Strachan and Batty respectively to do the job that Milner could do now. Unless a top coach is installed to replace Marsch I fear it may now be too late to avoid joining Bournemouth and Southampton in the Championship next season.