Leeds United chief Angus Kinnear says they're ready to move in this month's market if the right opportunity crops up.
Kinnear, speaking on The Square Ball's podcast, has explained what he expects in January.
“We're always open to taking opportunities," he said. “Raphinha was just that type of opportunity.
“There is a list of our core targets we're going after and then there are other players obviously we would love, but for whatever reason we don't think they're within our reach.
“It might be because they're happy at their club, their contract's long, their salary's too high, their wages are too high, they wouldn't consider coming to Leeds.
“That's where we rely on Victor's network of contacts. When he gets the call a week before the window is closed, Raphinha is available, we didn't think he would be, then he suddenly jumps to the top of our list.
“There is always the chance something happens like that in January, but the reality in January is firstly it's a very difficult window to generate any value in because people are normally panicking and therefore paying over the odds. We don't want to do that.
“The second thing is the summer window closed much later than it normally does, so January is coming much sooner and therefore the need to readjust isn't required.
“The third thing is, as we all know, Marcelo takes weeks to integrate a player into a squad and we support that, it's the right thing to do and it's proven successful, but if you buy somebody at the end of the January window and they take six or eight weeks to adapt and get up to Marcelo's fitness level, to understand the system, you're really only buying them for the last month of the season.
“Any purchase we would ever make in January now, and we've learnt this in the last couple of years, would really be for next season rather than for this season.
“So it will be very unlikely to see any kind of knee-jerk reaction of filling a position or a gap now.
“It will be more likely to be as players become available and we need them for the long term, which is why, to manage expectations, it's going to be quiet."
