Goodbye, Pascal

Leeds have banked £20 million in pure profit—but replacing Pascal Struijk may prove far more expensive.

After 8 years at Leeds Pascal Struijk is leaving for pastures new. 

The defender who joined the club's academy from Ajax in 2018 has decided not to renew his contract at Elland Road, and Leeds have accepted a £20 million bid from Brighton now rather than lose him on a free next summer.

It’s not a wholly unexpected transfer; due to PSR (or whatever they’re calling it now) there were always going to have to be sales this summer, and unfortunately Pascal made sense from a purely financial perspective. He was heading into the last year of his contract, and the fact that he arrived as a youth player means that the fee Leeds receives will be pure profit.

The challenge the Leeds recruitment team now faces is who to replace him with. Technically accomplished left-footed centre-backs are not easy to come by, and they’re certainly not cheap.

With this in mind, It’s hard to tell if this is a good deal for Leeds or not. If Adam Underwood and co. find an upgrade, who slots straight into the team, and improves it, while Struijk is warming the Brighton bench, then it looks like great business.

Alternatively, if Leeds fail to sign an adequate replacement, while Struijk goes from strength-to-strength on the south coast, then it looks like Leeds have had their pants pulled down. 

For now, it's Schrodinger's transfer.

One area of contention that seems to have unified most of the fanbase is the fee. £20million for a Premier League footballer is not a lot in today’s market, even for one who only has a year left on his contract. Comparatively, Jan Paul van Hecke - the player Struijk is replacing at Brighton - also had a year left on his deal before joining Spurs for around £52 million. For us Leeds fans, it’s reminiscent of Phillips and Raphinha leaving for fees that at the time, felt less than their true value. 

While financially it’s somewhat understandable, sentimentally it’s more difficult. 

Pascal represented the last remnants of Bielsa’s Leeds - an era that brought us so much joy. He was regular in the Premier League as the club made an impressive return after a 16 year absence, an integral member of the team that saw Leeds reach 100 points in the Championship, and in the season just gone he looked excellent in the left-sided centre-back position in a revamped 3 man defence. 

He was also a handsome bastard to boot.

That’s not to say that’s all been plain sailing for him - it hasn’t. Within the Leeds fanbase, he has his detractors. As a ball-playing centre-back, mistakes can, and did happen. There was also a perceived lack of aggression on his part. Struijk is not lacking in size, but he does lack a mean-streak; an edge that makes strikers think twice when it comes to a physical battle. 

For me, Pascal’s contributions to Leeds have been overwhelmingly positive; his crucial late equaliser against Brighton, and the 2 goals against Sunderland will live long in the memory. Over the last 8 years, we’ve been through a lot together, and I’ll be genuinely sad to see him go. 

Goodbye, Pascal.