Leeds United are currently fighting to secure a place as the third team to be promoted back to the Premier League from the Championship this season.
Leicester City and Ipswich Town have already made their way up to the top-flight, as they finished in the automatic promotion places, whilst the Whites will have to go through the play-offs to join them.
Daniel Farke's side come up against his former club Norwich City in the semi-finals of the play-offs, and the first leg is at Carrow Road in Norfolk on Sunday.
Leeds will be hoping to come out on top over two legs before going on to win at Wembley to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
The attention will then turn to how they can use the upcoming summer transfer window to make signings to help them avoid the drop, which they failed to do in their last season in the top-flight.
They will need to show that they have learned from previous recruitment mistakes, which date back to the club's errors in the 1990s and early 2000s before their long spell away from the Premier League.
One player Leeds had a howler with was winger Darren Huckerby as they were rinsed by the signing of the forward, who was brought in for big money and offered little on the pitch before being sold for a loss.
How much Leeds paid to sign Darren Huckerby
The BBC reported that the Yorkshire-based outfit splashed out a fee of £5.5m in the summer of 1999 to sign the speedster from Coventry City.
He came up through the youth ranks at Newcastle United but failed to establish himself as a regular, with just two first-team appearances, before his move to the Sky Blues in 1996.
Huckerby scored five goals and assisted one in 25 Premier League matches in his first season with his new club, which was also his first year of regular senior football.
The young wizard then played week-in-week-out in the top-flight over the next two years with Coventry and showcased his ability to make an impact at the top end of the pitch.
Appearances
34
34
Minutes played
2,783
2,736
Goals
14
9
Assists
2
1
Yellow cards
2
9
As you can see in the table above, Huckerby scored 23 goals and provided three assists in the two seasons combined, to go along with his five goals and one assist in his first year at that level.
This meant that Leeds were signing a talented young forward who had already proven that he had what it took to score goals on a semi-regular basis in the Premier League.
Darren Huckerby's Leeds struggles
Unfortunately, the English magician failed to carry his goalscoring form from his days with Coventry over to his team with the Whites after the £5.5m move.
Despite it being officially reported at £5.5m, Totally Money have the fee down as being £6.8m and, per their index, that would be worth a staggering £23.5m in today's (2024) money, based on the inflation of football transfer fees over the subsequent years since that deal.
This illustrates just how expensive the deal was to Leeds, relative to the time, as they splashed a significant amount of money on the exciting forward, who had already proven himself in the Premier League.
Instead of hitting the ground running and showing the best of his abilities in a Leeds shirt, the attacker struggled in his first season with the club.
Huckerby, who was competing for a place in the starting XI with the likes of Mark Viduka and Alan Smith, only played 1,230 minutes across 33 Premier League matches during the 1999/00 season – an average of 37 minutes per appearance.
His lack of minutes on the pitch clearly impacted his contributions in attack as the whiz, who could play out wide or through the middle as a centre-forward, ended the campaign with two goals and three assists to his name.
The English flop then played just seven Premier League games, racking up 247 minutes of action, and failed to register a single goal or assist during the first half of the 2000/01 season.
How much Leeds sold Darren Huckerby for
In January 2001, after 18 months at Leeds, Huckerby completed a move to Premier League rivals Manchester City for a fee of £2.5m – £3m less than the fee the Whites paid to sign him from Coventry.
This meant that the club lost more than 50% of the initial fee they spent on the forward, who cost them £2.75m per league goal during his time at the club – with two after a £5.5m move from the Sky Blues.
Huckerby, who was relegated with the Cityzens in 2001, scored 20 goals in 40 Second Division matches the following season before a return of just one goal in 16 top-flight matches in the 2002/03 campaign.
After a short spell on loan with Norwich City, the exciting ace joined the Canaries on a permanent deal from Manchester City for a fee of just £750k in December 2003.
This suggests that Leeds were right to cash in on him when they did, even if they still made a big loss, as the winger struggled in the top-flight again with City and his value dropped even further, down to just £750k.
The move to the Canaries turned out to be a successful one for the player, though, as he went on to rack up 48 goals and 26 assists in 203 appearances for the club in all competitions.
Huckerby, who was once hailed as a "real threat" by Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy, played one season in the Premier League with the Yellows and chipped in with six goals and three assists in 37 games.
Leeds messed up by signing flop who cost more than Rutter in 2024 money
The Whites then sold him for just £250k after an underwhelming time in Yorkshire.
ByDan EmeryMay 8, 2024
He scored four more top-flight goals that term for Norwich than in 18 months of action with Leeds after his big-money move from Coventry in 1999.
Overall, the Whites were rinsed by the forward as they splashed out a big fee to sign him from the Sky Blues and were not rewarded with consistent quality on the pitch, before they sold him for a significant loss after he flopped at Elland Road.