After three years in the top division, Leeds United was demoted from the Premier League at the end of the previous campaign, and they were sent back to the Championship.
Victor Orta, the former sporting director, was fired in May 2022, just before relegation was formally announced, because his managerial choices and new hires were unable to keep the team from going down.
After taking over for Marcelo Bielsa in February 2022, Jesse Marsch helped the Yorkshire-based team secure a third season in the division by working to keep the Whites in the Premier League over the next three months.
The following summer transfer window, Orta supported the American head coach by bringing in seven new players on long-term contracts, including Tyler Adams, Wilfried Gnonto, Rasmus Kristensen, and Brenden Aaronson.
It’s safe to assume that Leeds’s experiences with those arrangements were mixed. For the Whites, Kristensen was an especially bad addition because he performed poorly at right-back despite earning more than Gnonto, who has been a great addition.
In their second summer transfer window move, Orta and Marsch pounced to capture the full-back for an estimated £10 million from Austrian powerhouse Red Bull Salzburg.
The Leeds head coach stated that he was “convinced” that the Danish enforcer will develop into a “great” right-back in the Premier League at the time of the transfer.
However, those remarks were made during the defender’s successful season with Salzburg in the Bundesliga in the 2021–2022 season, which before his move to England.
In the Austrian top division that season, Kristensen started 29 league games and made an impression with his outstanding attacking contributions as a right-back, contributing seven goals, three assists, and seven “big chances” created.
Bundesliga strikers were also only able to dribble him past 0.4 times each game. This implied that the star, who was valued at £10 million, was a reliable full-back who wingers had trouble getting past down the flank.
Overall, it looked like Leeds had acquired a fantastic young right-back who could be a threat up top, both offensively and defensively, and who was also a reliable defender who made it difficult for opponents to get past him.
He suffered throughout his first season in England as the Whites were demoted to the Championship, but sadly, such traits did not transition well to life in the Premier League.
According to Capology, the Denmark international made £40k every week for the entire 2022–2023 season, or about £2 million total.
This indicates that Leeds paid £12 million in total for his services last season—transfer fee and salary combined—and that his on-field accomplishments did not justify the expense.
With his attacking and defensive play in the English premier league, Kristensen left a lot to be desired, and the team spent that money on him.
His play at both ends of the field declined dramatically after moving from Austria to the Premier League, as the table above illustrates. He was less creative than before and made it simpler for rival forwards to beat him in duels and dribbles.
Actually, among the Leeds players from the previous season, only Marc Roca (1.4) and Luke Ayling (1.5) were dribbled past more times per game than Kristensen.
Additionally, the Danish defender did not place among the top three scorers at the team for tackles, interceptions, blocks, or aerial duels won per game. In April 2023, Yorkshire Post writer Leon Wobschall criticized the Danish defender for his “appalling” defensive performance against Liverpool.
With his lackluster performances on the field at both ends, Leeds ultimately squandered £12 million on the full-back. Last summer, they sent him on loan to Roma, where he has started 16 Serie A games this season.
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