15 Worst Leeds United Signings Ever
10. Jimmy Kebe
The general consensus was that Leeds needed wingers, so in came Kebe, on loan from Crystal Palace during the January transfer window. He had shone for Reading during his previous stint in the Championship and was expected to make Leeds better.
Kebe made his debut in a 6-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday and it didn’t really get any better from there on in. Initially seen as the ideal mid-season signing, Kebe flopped badly.
9. Steve Morison
Unhappy with Luciano Becchio’s 19-goal haul in the first half of 2012-13, Neil Warnock jumped at the chance to swap a man in Leeds’ top 10 league goalscorers of all time for Norwich City’s Steve Morison, promising the former Millwall man would “be a legend here in a few years”.
In a deal in which everyone came out a loser, Becchio failed to make an impact at Carrow Road, Morison scored more goals on loan back at Millwall than he did in two years at Leeds and Warnock was sacked two months after the transfer.
8. Kevin Nicholls
Leeds’ gritty 2006-07 season saw them relegated to League One, with the Kevin Nicholls saga one of several uninspiring subplots.
Kevin Nicholls arrived from Luton in the summer of 2006 for £700,000. He injured knee ligaments in his first training session. Another injury soon followed which kept him out until December.
During that lay-off, Dennis Wise had made the midfielder captain, only for him to demand a transfer back to Luton by March. Wise dug his feet in, demanding Luton match the fee that Leeds paid for him, only for Preston to come in and cough up.
7. Roque Junior
Roque Junior was signed on loan from AC Milan in 2003 having helped Brazil win the World Cup just 12 months previously. He prompted great excitement when he arrived at Elland Road.
But what was followed was a disastrous debut against Leicester City. The Whites conceded 24 times in his seven appearances on their way to relegation from the Premier League, making him the worst Leeds United signings ever.
6. Cameron Stewart
With Brian McDermott desperate to add some width to his attack in January 2014, Leeds pulled off what on the face of things appeared decent deals for Jimmy Kebe and Stewart.
A week after being dumped out of the FA Cup by Rochdale, the duo made their debuts as Leeds were thrashed 6-0 at Sheffield Wednesday as McDermott pioneered the 3-4-3 formation Antonio Conte replicated to great success with Chelsea.
Stewart had joined on loan with a three-year contract already agreed to begin come the end of the season. He was so bad, that Leeds reneged on the deal, and the former Manchester United man took legal action against the Whites.
The worst signing Leeds United ever made was Brian Clough!