Andrea Radrizzani once said of the financial might of the Premier League: “In my opinion we throw money away… the whole Premier League is a bit flawed. [Clubs] use money because they have so much of it, but there is no real need for it.”

It takes a real act of stupidity to make Radrizzani look clever. In giving Leeds £23m plus add-ons for Tyler Adams, Bournemouth have proven Radz right. They waited all summer while they presumably could have had him on loan for the cost of his wages, before paying overs on Adams’ £20m release clause. They’re a Premier League club, so throwing away an extra few million quid for an injured midfielder doesn’t mean much, but for Leeds and Daniel Farke it’s a long-awaited injection of transfer funds.

Now gerr’it spent.

How it started

Adams joined Leeds two days after Kalvin Phillips had been sold to Manchester City, and was presented as at least one half of the replacement for Kalvin — Tyler was going to do the tackling, Marc Roca was going to do the passing.

Roca had already arrived, but signing a central midfielder still felt like a novelty for Leeds United — it still does! — even if any excitement was slightly tempered by the fact Adams was so doused in Red Bull. He was Jesse Marsh’s guy; they had first met when Adams was just fifteen, worked together at the New York and Leipzig franchises, and Tyler had been correcting Jesse’s tactics since his first start as a sixteen-year-old.

Adams is perhaps the perfect embodiment of Red Bull football: he’s great at running around and tackling but doesn’t really know how to pass. Even so, it didn’t take long before I realised I much preferred Tyler Adams to Jesse Marsch.

How it went

Of the nine players Leeds spunked around £100m on last summer, Adams was easily the best and most consistent. Whatever ‘it’ is, it seemed like he got it. For a fanbase now regularly accused of anti-American xenophobia, we’ll always be able to point to Adams and say, ‘We liked him, at least until he became a turncoat bastard, so there!’ It’s just a shame he was surrounded by such a bunch of losers.

Best moment

Booting Jadon Sancho into the air while winning the ball two minutes into the home fixture against Scum was quite possibly the best tackle I’ve seen at Elland Road since Marius Zaliukas stopped Watford scoring a late winner by sliding from one penalty box to the other. Likewise, the sheer pettiness of moodily ruining Jacob Murphy’s attempts to take a free-kick quickly showed a taste for devilment that Leeds sorely lacked once Mat Klich had been sold and Adams was injured.

???? ????????????'???? ???????????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????!@Cli5hy x @tyler_adams14 pic.twitter.com/rTCW0mIaMC

— Leeds United (@LUFC) January 1, 2023

But Leeds won neither of those games, so it has to be his performance in the victory at Anfield, when he decided that if he couldn’t tackle the entire Liverpool team, he’d at least try to fight them all instead. Walking down the tunnel after Crysencio Summerville’s late winner, Adams was overheard shouting, “Three points — let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the epitaph to his Leeds career. Twenty-three points — let’s get the fuck out of here.

Worst moment

Playing so goddamn well at Liverpool and keeping Jesse Marsch in a job. Ffs, Tyler.

What might have been

If only he hadn’t knackered his hamstring and missed the final two months of the season, Leeds could have tried to stay up with an actual midfielder in the team, and maybe his mate Weston McKennie wouldn’t have been such a sulky slob.

Slightly off topic, but I also often wonder whether McKennie would have dared to have been such a waster if Mat Klich was still around to greet him in the same way he welcomed Adams to Leeds. Thanks again, Jesse.

NEW PREMIUM STORY: I visited the Americans at Leeds United, where Jesse Marsch’s training sessions are … intense, as Tyler Adams experienced here. Story: https://t.co/JHM2dQYim3 pic.twitter.com/Dd6aqlI4dy

— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) August 12, 2022

Rate the goodbye

I don’t have any particular ill feeling towards Adams — he was good for Leeds, got injured, then was bought by a Premier League club for a decent fee. It seems like fair enough all round, but I do hope that one day he wakes up and regrets the fact that he’s swapped the chance to become a bona-fide Leeds hero for the opportunity to live in a retirement town while playing for a bottom half Premier League club:

Not an easy goodbye. The club, my teammates and the fans have supported me since day 1, and I wish I could’ve given more in the home stretch. Forever grateful for this past year.???? pic.twitter.com/CavIcyqcDX

— Tyler Adams (@tyler_adams14) August 20, 2023

Cool. See ya!

Where they’re going

yaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnn ⬢