Leeds need to take some risks in the summer if they want to rise up the table because they will be left behind otherwise.

Andrea Radrizzani has a bad reputation among Leeds fans due to mistakes he has made during his time as owner of the club.

Therefore, this summer will be important in rebuilding that connection.

They have gone backwards in recent seasons with a seventh place finish under Garry Monk being followed by a mid-table finish based on the current league position.

Leeds' transfer business has been poor in recent seasons with cheap prices and depth being seen as more important than quality, which has come back to haunt them.

Here are four areas that they can improve in if they take risks in the summer...

Firstly, Leeds need to trim their squad down because they have a lot of periphery players who offer little, but help block the route into the first-team for the academy graduates.

They also increase the wage bill which reduces the quality of players that they can afford to bring in while staying within FFP regulations.

Players such as Hadi Sacko and Jay Roy-Grot are clearly not good enough and should be moved on with a symbolic element to it as Leeds changes their transfer strategy away from quantity to quality.

Leeds need to rebuild their attack which links in to the previous point about trimming the squad. They lack a truly prolific striker with loanee Pierre-Michel Lasogga being the top goalscorer with ten goals.

Lasogga is on loan from Hamburg, but they could find a better alternative rather than signing him permanently. Caleb Ekuban has been used as the focal point by Paul Heckingbottom, but he has only scored once in 15 league appearances.

They need to make targeted signings in this area in order to bring in real quality rather than gambling on these cheap alternatives. It's no coincidence that they did well last season with the prolific New Zealander Chris Wood as their main forward. Signing someone who guarantees goals like he did will help them significantly

Similar to the points above, the owners need to back Heckingbottom properly by giving him a significant budget in order to strengthen the key areas in the squad.

This may be seen as a risk due to his struggles at the club so far, but a manager can only get the best out of his squad when he is able to put his imprint on it through his ideas and the players he brings in to fill specific roles.

Heckingbottom showed in his time at Barnsley that he can produce results when he has a settled squad, and Leeds can bring in players of a higher calibre so, in theory, he can produce better results.

One area that Heckingbottom has excelled in since arriving is giving academy prospects a chance in the first-team by creating a clear pathway for them.

This helps build competition in the squad with these youngsters threatening to replace the experienced players in the first-team, and that, in turn, makes the academy teams more competitive because they have something to play for at that level.

Bailey Peacock-Farrell is a great example of this because he has been better than Felix Wiedwald since taking over the main goalkeeping position. This needs to be carried on because this adds true depth to the squad in the best way possible.

Young players are prone to making mistakes as they learn which is risky, but it is worth it in the long run due to the connection they have with the club as well as ensuring that the fans have someone to root for.