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Leeds United have made four signings so far this summer. This soon looks set to become five, with recent reports from Florian Plettenberg suggesting Michael Zetterer is on the verge of joining United as our new backup goalkeeper. However, with the deadline edging ever closer, there are still a few positions that the 49ers would ideally like to recruit in, namely another striker, winger and left-back. A former Leeds manager has recently come out and suggested that his former club should use the same blueprint as one of their Premier League rivals as they continue to establish themselves in the top-flight. David O’Leary urges Leeds to be ‘like Brighton’ David O’Leary was our last manager to oversee Leeds competing where they should be, for the biggest English and European honours available. To get back to that point, the 49ers have a lot of work to do. But as a club, it does ultimately seem like we are heading in the right direction. As quoted by Leeds Live, O’Leary believes Leeds should follow the blueprint set by clubs such as Brighton. “I think they need to add players who they buy at the right price and turn into really top-quality players. “Like Brighton, they buy players, and they’re worth a lot of money because the top teams want them. I think Leeds have got to be able to buy well and be a club that develops players to play in a big club like Leeds under the demands. “They are brilliant supporters, but you’ve got to be a certain type of player to play there because the expectation is big. If the team is doing well, the city builds up all week looking forward to the Wednesday night match or the Saturday game.” O’Leary continued: “If you win, the city is buzzing. There’s a lot of people who say it’s great when you have one club in a big city, but that can be the other way as well. It becomes a lot of pressure and expectation. “I think that’s what Leeds have got to do. They can’t be just a team to survive. They’ve got to be a team to buy players that may be bronze or silver, and turn them into gold. “And if a big club comes, say, “we’re a big club, we don’t need to sell, but if we are, we’re going to sell for a lot of money.” 49ers look as though they are applying this tactic O’Leary’s analogy of buying a bronze or silver player and turning them into gold is fantastic. As a club, that’s where we currently are. I think at 23, Tarik Muharemovic is an example of this. If the Bosnian defender keeps up his form, it won’t be too long until a couple of huge offers arrive on our doorstep for him. As we continue to establish ourselves in the Premier League, we’ll probably have to accept these offers, but one day, hopefully we’ll be able to retain all our key assets whilst going out and buying ‘gold’ ourselves. That’s why the James Trafford deal excited me so much. Getting the Englishman for £40million felt as though we were signing a ‘gold’ level player to use O’Leary’s analogy again. It feels like the sort of signing we would make under O’Leary when we were one of the top sides around, and long may this sort of recruitment continue.