Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke had to make some difficult decisions during the summer transfer window after the club achieved promotion to the Premier League.

The Whites won the Championship title with a club-record 100-point haul in the 2024/25 campaign, earning them a place in the top-flight after a two-year absence.

Farke had a team that he trusted to deliver week-in-week-out, because they produced 100 points in 46 league games, but the step up to the Premier League is a big one, which meant that some players had to be replaced.

Leeds moved quickly in the summer transfer window to snap up Lucas Perri, Jaka Bijol, Gabriel Gudmundsson, and Anton Stach to improve the defence and physicality of the side.

As part of the restructure of the squad to deal with the demands of the Premier League, the Whites did not heavily pursue a reunion with former loanee Manor Solomon early on in the window.

However, Football Insider reports that he reemerged as a target for the club in the final days of the window, only for the attacker to turn them down in favour of a move to Villarreal.

Why missing out on Manor Solomon was a blow for Leeds

The Tottenham Hotspur winger signed for Villarreal on loan and the report claims that he turned down a return to Leeds at that stage of the window because of the prospect of playing European football in Spain, rather than fighting relegation.

Who knows how it could have played out if the Whites had gone in hard on a deal to bring him back to West Yorkshire early on in the window, though, after he enjoyed such a successful time on loan.

It was, ultimately, a blow to miss out on a deal for Solomon because the club were unable to sign any other winger on deadline day, and he could have been a fantastic addition to the squad.

Wilfried Gnonto has failed to deliver a shot on target or a 'big chance' created in three starts in the Premier League this season, after he mainly played second-fiddle to Solomon last term in the Championship.

The Italy U21 international scored nine goals and provided six assists in the second tier, per Sofascore, which was not a horrendous return but it was not as impressive as Solomon's contributions.

As you can see in the table above, the Israel international made a huge impact in front of goal as both a scorer and a creator for Leeds on the left wing.

Those performances helped his Transfermarkt value to soar from £11m at the start of last season to £12m at the time of writing (06/09/2025), which further illustrates how much of a success he was at Elland Road.

Whilst Leeds opted against heavily pursuing a deal to bring him back early on in the window to continue his journey in West Yorkshire, there are permanent members of the squad who benefitted even more from the experience of last season than Solomon.

For example, former Swansea City centre-forward Joel Piroe is now worth even more than the former Tottenham Hotspur loanee after his performances in the second tier in the 2024/25 campaign.

Leeds have hit the jackpot with Joel Piroe

Farke wanted a new centre-forward to bolster his squad when he arrived at Elland Road in the summer of 2023, and the club moved to sign the Dutch attacker from Swansea for a fee of around £10m.

The left-footed marksman had scored 46 goals in 96 appearances in all competitions for the Welsh side, per Transfermarkt, including 41 times in the Championship, which meant that the Whites knew that they were signing a proven operator in the second tier.

It was almost a riskless signing given his record at that level and that is how it played out across his two seasons in the Championship with the West Yorkshire outfit.

The 26-year-old number nine hit the ground running at Elland Road with a haul of 14 goals and three assists in 45 appearances in the league, including the play-offs, in his first season at the club, per Transfermarkt.

Piroe, who was hailed as "dangerous" by journalist Josh Bunting, then fired Leeds to the 100-point title in the Championship in the 2024/25 campaign by winning the Golden Boot with an eye-catching 19 league goals for Farke.

The Dutchman started the season on the bench behind Mateo Joseph in the number nine position, but was able to prove his worth and establish himself as the undisputed first-choice in that role.

As you can see in the table above, Piroe was arguably the most lethal centre-forward in the Championship, ranking in the top percentile in a host of key goalscoring metrics.

His phenomenal form led to his Transfermarkt value soaring up to £15.6m, from the £12.1m that it was at in the summer of 2024, and up from the £10m that the club paid for him in 2023.

This means that Piroe is currently worth around £3.6m more than Solomon and that his value soared by more than the £1m that the Spurs loanee's did from the start of the 2024/25 campaign to the end of it.

Whilst the Dutchman has lost his place in the starting XI in the Premier League this season, Farke and Leeds have already hit the jackpot with Piroe because of his soaring market value and contributions to the team's promotion last term.

Whatever happens from now on, the signing of the left-footed marksman from Swansea will be looked back on as a terrific piece of business by all involved.