Leeds United: Joe Rodon impresses

Transcript

00:00 Of course, one player who's doing very well at the moment is the lonely Joe Rodon, who's on loan from Tottenham.

00:06 He's been very good at centre-back recently. Obviously, as I mentioned there, he's only on loan.

00:12 So, come the summer, he's one who you'd love to make permanent, but how likely is that?

00:18 Well, it's a difficult one to answer that. I mean, he almost reminds me of Jonathan Woodgate, the way he plays a lot of the time,

00:24 the way he is at the back, and just so commanding and a massive aerial presence, and just a proper no-nonsense,

00:29 tough defender, centre-back. Especially the last few games, he's been superb.

00:35 I mean, obviously Somerville's sort of, I'd say, star man and stuff, and he gets the headlines with the goals and whatever,

00:41 and so does Root's hair. But I'll tell you what, Rodon's not far behind Ampadu as well, he's so solid.

00:44 But Rodon's not far behind the way he's going. He just makes such a difference at the back,

00:48 and I don't think there's any doubt about it that Leeds will try and sign him on the permanent.

00:52 And I think probably a lot of that just depends really on what division they're in.

00:55 Obviously, if they're still in the Championship, it's going to be a lot harder to do that,

00:58 because obviously, I don't know how Rodon will see it, but surely he'll want Premier League football.

01:02 The fact is, he's a Premier League player because he's obviously Tottenham's player.

01:06 Would he return to Tottenham and get back in there? I mean, you know what defensive options they've got,

01:11 so that's a tough one. But he's a very, very good player. I don't think there's any doubt that he's better than a Championship player,

01:16 and you can see that in a lot of these games. His contract situation is down to the last 18 months of that,

01:21 so you would think how bleeds his cause in terms of possibly getting the price down.

01:25 But I still think you'd be looking at a decent whack for him. I mean, he's not all dizzy in 26,

01:30 so I think you're going to be talking probably north of 15 mil, if not 20, something like that.

01:35 But he's definitely a player Leeds need to try and sign. He's definitely a player they will try and sign.

01:39 I think Daniel Farker's pretty much already, without admitting that as such, he has been asked about it in press conferences before

01:45 and kind of said, look, we're trying to get on with that and there's work in the background, etc, etc.

01:49 There's no doubt how good a player he is. So, yeah, we'll wait and see how that plays out.

01:53 I suppose a lot of people say it's like Ben White, Mark, too, really, in terms of what happened with him.

01:58 Obviously, when he came on loan and I think everybody knew how good he was and obviously Leeds tried their very best to sign him.

02:03 Now it didn't happen, obviously. Now he's ended up at Arsenal and, you know, obviously a fantastic player and a lot of similarities, really.

02:09 And this one, obviously, Rodon's a lot older, though, than Ben White was, but very, very important.

02:13 And obviously, the aim is for Leeds United to get back in the Premier League. There's no doubt about that.

02:18 And hopefully they can do it this season. And if they can do it this season, you would hope they would sign him in the summer

02:23 because he really would be, I think, a rock at the back, even in the Premier League for them.

02:28 So, I've been very, very impressed with him. I think he's a great player, a real leader as well.

02:33 A player who could easily end up becoming a captain if they signed him permanently.

02:37 So, definitely one of Leeds' best players. Yes, he's only a loanee, but hopefully he's only a loanee until the end of the season.

02:43 Hopefully they can get him in the summer. But it won't be easy because at the end of the day, Daniel, if he's playing that well,

02:47 it won't just be Leeds looking at him, will it? There'll be other clubs as well.

02:51 A lot of it depends on what division Leeds are in. So, get back in the Premier League and then hopefully get him signed as well.

02:58 Great player.