It means that Leeds have a degree of continuity, in spite of the 10 new additions into the first-team on top of that. Interestingly, players such as Leeds\u2019 Dutch vice captain remained, despite concerns all summer regarding Pascal Struijk\u2019s Leeds future<\/a>.<\/p>\n Struijk then bossed the Leeds game against Everton<\/a> although Daniel Farke was critical of Struijk against Arsenal<\/a>, albeit indirectly post-match. He remained post-deadline, along with other assets like Willy Gnonto, too.<\/p>\n Graham Smyth questions the \u2018optics\u2019 of Leeds keeping Pascal Struijk<\/p>\n Reporters like\u00a0Adam Pope raised concerns over Struijk\u2019s future<\/a>\u00a0in recent months, while\u00a0Beren Cross explained the Struijk PSR complexities<\/a>\u00a0as well, with the noise regarding his personal situation simply not going away all the way up until the deadline.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because of the late window information that\u00a0Villarreal were in the race to sign Struijk<\/a>, with both Struijk and Willy Gnonto earmarked as PSR sales<\/a>\u00a0from the early periods of the summer window.<\/p>\n Graham Smyth has spoken via The Inside Elland Road podcast regarding that fact, stating: \u201cI understand that they\u2019re saying the most sellable players and the players who would bring the most PSR joy are those that nobody really wants to sell. <\/p>\n MORE LEEDS UNITED STORIES<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, [Ao] Tanaka because he was signed for pittance and could now be worth I don\u2019t even want to put a number on it because because he\u2019s absolutely fantastic. <\/p>\n \u201cJayden Bogle signed for \u00a35 million. That is looking worse and worse for Sheffield United all the time, you know, particularly with the way he started this season. He started this season in the Premier League better than he started last season in the Championship. <\/p>\n \u201cPlayers like that, Struijk is another, and Gnonto is another. The club would say nobody would be happy if we sold those players. I don\u2019t know. In the case of Tanaka, yes, there\u2019d probably be riots. <\/p>\n \u201cGnonto, yeah, people would probably be a bit unhappy with that. Struijk, I don\u2019t know that the optics would be so bad on that. I would be a bit sad because I love watching Pascal Struijk play football particularly when the ball\u2019s at his feet. <\/p>\n \u201cI have concerns about him in the Premier League when it comes to the ball in behind him, particularly. I don\u2019t know that people are so wedded to him that they would have gone mad had Leeds got a really good fee for him. <\/p>\n \u201cBut maybe the market wasn\u2019t wasn\u2019t there for him, you know? To turn down that kind of money and maybe he was on Farke\u2019s list of five that he came armed with into the summer discussion to say please don\u2019t sell these players. <\/p>\n \u201cMaybe, maybe Pascal was among them. And the other point, I suppose, is that if you sell a Pascal to get a [Rodrigo] Muniz or a [Igor] Paixao or whatever, you still need to then go and get a centre-back. <\/p>\n \u201cSo you\u2019re deep enough at centre-back, you know? It could just be that you couldn\u2019t afford to get someone close to Pascal\u2019s level and you\u2019re getting filler really is what you\u2019re getting. <\/p>\n \u201cSo, it\u2019s not easy, but I don\u2019t know that the plan to keep everyone or that the way it\u2019s turned out that they\u2019ve kept everyone is is is really the boast that they would think it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Tony Dorigo thinks Struijk is \u2018superb\u2019<\/a>, meanwhile Farke hailed Struijk a \u2018colossus\u2019<\/a> after the Everton game at Elland Road. The Leeds boss said: \u201cI think he was outstanding, top performance, really like a colossus in the defence, won many, many headers.<\/p>\n \u201cBut Pascal was very good on the ball, good in the build-up, important, also aggressive in defending forward, [and showed] good leadership. He was an outstanding player for us in the last season and has proven his worth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, he\u2019s a big leader also in the dressing room, but nowadays it\u2019s not just up to one or two players, you need a core group who lead. Each and every player has to show responsibility, but of course, we have a good group of leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of them are sometimes not always playing or even always in the squad. I also think about our other defensive options, like Jaka Bijol or Sebastiaan Bornauw, who are top, top characters, although they were not involved, are so important in the dressing room.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Pascal](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2230953519-1-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by James Gill \u2013 Danehouse\/Getty Images<\/p>\n