Leeds

Leeds United: price set for Jansson but good value

As reported on Swedish media website SkåneSport, Pontus Jansson has revealed in a phone call to the Swedish publication what Leeds United must pay for a permanent deal – but is it worth it?

The price set, according to the SkåneSport article is SEK40m, and at current Krone-to-Sterling exchange rates that pans out to around £3.61m and some loose change. Say it quickly Leeds fans and it doesn’t sound too bad.

But, in all seriousness, £3.61m is a fair hefty amount of money for any team, apart from those supported by the airbag of parachute payments. Is it a fair return of value versus money should Leeds United decide to make Pontus Jansson’s temporary sojourn in LS11 a permanent one.

Jansson is definitely enjoying his football, in particular, and life in Leeds, in general, even if he doesn’t approve of English food itself. There is a sense of adulation coming back the other way from Leeds United fans towards the big Swedish central defender – this not being lost on the player who is rapidly developing into a talismanic terrace favourite.

Speaking to SkåneSport, Jansson said: “It’s writings about me every day and it’s crazy fun to read what the Leeds supporters saying on twitter and other social media. And it has gone well for me. I’m very pleased with the start [I have made].”

If it isn’t t-shirts being made on a ‘Janssonator’ theme, if it isn’t the #PontusJanssonFacts hashtag sprouting up on Twitter with a series of attached feats, if it isn’t the coining of the phrase ‘Janssoned’ when being hit by a hard Pontus tackle then it is just the simple adulation from Leeds fans over gaining what could be an important tumbler in a defensive lock.

Yet that £3.61m price does not go away; it is there over-and-above the adulatory outpourings of Leeds United fans.

Aside from the developing bromance, is he really worth that much money. That is £3.61m paid when he’s played “20 competitive games” for the Whites with the “loan from Torino converted automatically to a purchase” according to the Swedish publication. Automatically, should he play in 20 competitive fixtures, then Jansson is a Leeds player – I’ll let that sink in a minute.

Still, it’s a case of dig deep if he is worth buying – and he is.

Leeds’ defence was almost haemophiliac in the way that it bled goals before the big Swede arrived. Three in an abject display on the opening day against QPR and three in an equally turgid game against Nottingham Forest. It wasn’t pretty watching the Leeds United defence lurch from error to mistake and stumble back to error again. If you mentioned balls into the box then the Whites’ defenders showed an almost vampiric aversion to crosses.

Then Jansson arrived.

A ball into the box is met with contempt and smacked back from whence it came. Such is his technique and dominance that the om-loan defender has been tasked with dealing with balls played into the box – given a free role in that he marks no one, tracks the flight of the ball and does what defenders should do – he clears danger.

In the five games that he has played in, Leeds have won four, lost one and conceded just two goals, keeping three clean sheets. He averages 10 clearances a game and is only 23 behind team leader Kyle Bartley in clearances despite his fellow central defender playing five more league games.

Of course, it’s not all about Pontus Jansson but he does seem to be the glue that is helping cement the more solid displays from Leeds United’s defensive unit.

When you look at it like that, £3.61m plus change looks a small price to pay.

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