Leeds United already pressing on with Premier League recruitment as Andrea Radrizzani plots his biggest transfer yet

The Italian, who bought the club from Massimo Cellino three years ago, admits more investment is needed now the club have reached the Premier League after 16 years away, but despite that and the uncertainty over when Elland Road will be able to open to fans, he has “a clear budget” and is pressing ahead with trying to add “quality not quantity” to Marcelo Bielsa's squad.

Having been at Derby County on Sunday afternoon to watch Leeds win their first game as champions 3-1, by Monday morning he was speaking to the media from a hotel room in Europe – he would not be more specific than that – where he was about to conduct transfer negotiations.

“I am in a place in Europe approaching a meeting for a player for next year,” he said.

When asked if the club could outspend the £17m it will pay Wolverhampton Wanderers to make Helder Costa's deal permanent, Radrizzani replied: “Yes I think we could break it soon.”

Leeds's club record transfer is the £18m paid to West Ham United for Rio Ferdinand in 2000. They are due to pay RB Leipzig £20m to make Jean-Kevin Augustin's half-season loan permanent but having declined to extend it until the end of this campaign, they may try to argue a way out of their obligation.

Either way, it is clear the squad needs improving but not overhauling for the step up to the world's richest league.

“I would say we will be more similar to Sheffield United (than Aston Villa in their approach to squad-building after promotion),” he said. “It's not only about the money, it's important we keep the structure and the foundation we have built over two years.

“You don't win all the points we have in two seasons and stay in the top-three positions for two years consecutively if you don't have a good foundation and good players so I think we need to continue with that, without changing too much.

“The past has shown the teams who change too much are not succeeding often and why change if we have a good, competitive team?

“It (recruitment) will be quality over quantity. We are very careful to identify the players with the right characteristics in the positions we need, that they fit the character of the players to fit in our group. We put as a priority defending the spirit of this group that we created. You can see the players are united, it's very important we prioritise that.”

The transfer window opens on July 27, and although a date has not been set for the start of the 2020-21 Premier League season, September 12 is thought most likely.

Radrizzani has been openly seeking extra investment to make sure the club can be competitive in the Premier League, and the coronavirus has only amplified the need. He has no plans to give up control.

“We've already been hit very badly, we will probably lose £30m to £40m between this season and the beginning of the next. We can see the negative impact of covid in every area.

“The offer we had for shirt sponsorship and what we are about to confirm is 40 per cent lower. Every sports organisation is affected by this economical crisis.

“So we will need additional investment to be competitive and maintain (our place in) the league, that is our target, to maintain our position in the Premier League. We will need to add on, I think.”

NFL franchise San Francisco 49ers have invested in the club, and there has been long-running dialogue with Qatar Sports Investment, the owners of Parsi Saint-Germain, but Radrizzani says that initially the extra investment is likely to come from his holding company, ASER.

He says the 49ers' increased contribution is more likely to be expertise, and there have been no discussions about putting extra money in.

“They have done a good deed in investing in the club, they see their investment probably worth 3.5 times higher than what they put in,” he said. “They are good friends, a good partner and they could bring more value in the management of the club in the Premier League than what has been done until now. I expect them to help us more, step up and help us with club management, particularly the stadium, merchandise and activities the things they do very well in the US.”

On QSI, he added: “We have a very good friendship, we have been talking but we haven't reached a concrete point. If they want to seriously to come they can find my door open for discussion.”

He does not want to step aside.

“Living in this league (the Championship) for three years, it was very hard and I'm not going anywhere,” he said. “I would sell probably if I couldn't achieve Premier League (status) but I would love to stay maybe ten years or more. I'm still young (45), I'm not in any rush, I'm enjoying it.”

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