Today the club announced the retained list for next season, which has been submitted to the football authorities. There are no real surprises, but the one real piece of news is that Junior Firpo and Sam Byram might still be with us next season.

The contracts of both players will be up at the end of next month, but clearly the club think that both might still have a role to play next season in the Premier League. But as well as the financial terms that might tempt the pair to accept new contracts, much will depend on their willingness to be bit-part players in the squad.

Byram never really established himself as a Premier League player at West Ham or Norwich in his younger days, though a succession of injuries didn’t help. So it’s hard to see him being a regular when he will turn 32 a month into the new season, though his experience and ability to play in several positions could still make him a useful backup option.

And while Firpo certainly enjoyed a stellar season and re-established himself as a cult hero among the fans, there remains a nagging doubt that he too won’t be up to the standards of the Premier League, defensively at least. It was fine to have him popping up all over the pitch in the Championship games we were dominating, but next season we will be facing sides who will be much better at breaking quickly and exploiting vacant areas down the flanks.

And even on the occasions when Firpo is in position, he’s likely to struggle against the top teams, and those whose right sided attacker is one of their top players (e.g. Bowen at West Ham). There has been much talk of a decent left-back being one of our priorities as we strengthen this summer, so it’s likely that Junior will have to be content to be used as a backup if he is to stay.

It might be an option to use him further up the pitch, and he did indeed start his career as a winger, but we do have quite a few attacking options on the left already. The more so if we manage to sign Manor Solomon. Officially he is listed as a “Return to parent club”, along with Joe Rothwell, but that is simply a statement of the formal position, and doesn’t mean that we won’t be discussing a permanent transfer with his current club.

One man who was content to be a backup was Josuha Guilavogui, who came to Leeds during an injury crisis in the autumn, but has been confirmed as the one definite departure among the senior players. In midfield he helped us to see out a number of games as a late-ish substitute, but as a centre-back he scared us to death even against Harrogate in the FA Cup.

But by all accounts he was a huge influence behind the scenes, and his beaming smile during the parade showed how pleased he was by our success, even though he won’t be staying beyond the expiry of his contract.

His post on Instagram today included the words "As I sit and reflect on the last 7 months, I’m filled with emotions I didn’t expect when I signed to joined this club. This journey has meant more than I could have imagined”, and we certainly wish him well wherever he goes next.

Four young players have been offered terms to re-sign, the best known being James Debayo, the central defender who made two substitute experiences for the first team, and might hope for a few more as his career develops. Sadly there are nine other youth players on the list who were given the opposite news, so we hope they all manage to find a club who needs their talent at some level of the game.

Of course, this retained list only includes those players whose contracts are coming to an end on June 30th, and there will undoubtedly be others on the books who the club won’t quite reach the standard demanded by Premier League football, who will be moved on to free up some cash and help us keep within the PSR regulations. All the news when we get it.

Reuters

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