Leeds struck gold selling 90s star who’d be worth more than Phillips today

Leeds United have hit the jackpot many times over the years in regards to cashing in on players for significant fees, including Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips in recent times.

In the summer of 2022, former sporting director Victor Orta sold them both to Barcelona and Manchester City respectively, and the Whites were subsequently relegated at the end of that season.

The Cityzens swooped in to sign Phillips for an initial fee of £42m, with a further £3m in potential add-ons, which was a huge fee for a player who had come through the academy system and, therefore, did not cost Leeds a penny to sign.

He is not the first player to come through the youth setup before being sold for a significant amount of money, though, as David Batty followed the same path during the 1990s, and was sold for more than Phillips if you adjust for the inflation of transfer fees in football.

David Batty’s first spell at Leeds

The central midfielder came up through the U18s side to join the first-team during the late 1980s and helped the team to win promotion to the top-flight from the Second Division during the 1889/90 season.

His first year of top tier football came during the 1990/91 term, as the talented gem made 37 First Division (pre-Premier League) appearances.

As you can see in the table above, the academy graduate was a crucial player for the club throughout the title-winning term, with 89.6 minutes played per game on average.

His fantastic performances for Leeds over the years convinced Blackburn Rovers to swoop in to secure his services for a mouth-watering fee in January 1994.

How much Blackburn paid for David Batty in 2024 money

As per Totally Money, Blackburn splashed out a fee of £3.4m to sign the combative central midfielder from the Yorkshire-based outfit ahead of the second half of the 1993/94 campaign.

If you adjust for the inflation of transfer fees in football, per Totally Money’s index, over the subsequent years, that fee would have been worth a staggering £52.6m in today’s money.

This shows that Batty’s huge move to Ewood Park was more valuable to Leeds at the time than Phillips’ £45m move to Manchester City was in 2022.

It cost £0 for the Whites to sign the impressive star, given he came through the academy, and then they went on to sell him for a gigantic fee, relative to the time.

Batty then won the Premier League title with Blackburn during the 1994/95 campaign and went on to play for Newcastle before a return to Leeds in January 1999 for a fee of £5.7m – that would be worth £24.9m in today’s money – and he ended his career at Elland Road.

The club, therefore, struck gold with the 1990s star as they made a huge amount of money on his services and enjoyed his talents during a top-flight title-winning campaign after bringing him through the youth teams.