Leeds United are currently competing to secure promotion to the Premier League at the first time of asking after their relegation last summer.
The Whites could need to splash the cash to bolster their squad if they do win promotion back to the big time, and they have already been linked with an interest in £25m-rated Celtic star Matt O'Riley.
When they were last in the Premier League, the club swooped to sign Georginio Rutter for a club-record £35.5m from German side Hoffenheim in January 2023, but he could not help the team avoid the drop.
The club once broke their transfer record in the top-flight to sign striker Brian Deane in the summer of 1993 and, if you adjust for the inflation of fees in football, that move was worth even more than the one to bring Rutter to Elland Road.
How much Leeds' deal to sign Brian Deane would be worth in 2024
Per Totally Money, Leeds paid a fee of £3.9m to sign the centre-forward from Sheffield United ahead of the 1993/94 Premier League campaign.
Totally Money have taken the 100 most expensive transfers of all time across each season since 1992 in Europe's top five leagues. Armed with plenty of historical financial data they have calculated what footballers of yesteryear would be worth in the present day after taking into account the remarkable rate of inflation.
Adjusting for the aforementioned inflation of transfer fees in football over the subsequent years, that £3.9m would be worth a staggering £60.6m in 2024 money.
The Whites signed the number nine, who was born and raised in Leeds, from the Blades after the impressive marksman had plundered 12 or more goals in each of his last three top-flight seasons.
Deane fired in 12 and 13 First Division goals in the 1990/91 and 1991/92 campaigns, respectively, before a fantastic return of 15 goals and ten assists in 41 matches in the first-ever Premier League term.
His sublime goalscoring form for Sheffield United convinced Leeds to smash their transfer record, in a deal that would be worth over £60m today, and it turned out to be a howler by the club.
Brian Deane's Leeds career in numbers
The former England international, who was capped three times by his country, enjoyed a fantastic debut season with the Whites, as he scored 11 goals and provided 12 assists in 41 Premier League matches, carrying his form for the Blades over to Elland Road.
Unfortunately, that sublime first year with Leeds was the outlier in his four-year stay with the Yorkshire-based side, with the 6 foot 3 striker's form in front of goal declining after that.
1993/94
41
11
12
1994/95
35
9
2
1995/96
34
7
1
1996/97
28
5
1
As you can see in the table above, his appearances and goals in the Premier League slowly declined each year, with a distinct lack of creativity after his debut season as well.
Having hit double figures for goals in his last three years with the Blades, Deane only scored more than nine goals in one of his four campaigns with the Whites, and he did not win a single trophy during his time there.
They then sold him back to Sheffield United in the summer of 1997 for a fee of £1.5m, which shows that they made a significant loss on him to go along with his underwhelming performances on the pitch in three of his four years at Elland Road.
Therefore, Leeds had a howler with the signing of Deane from the fellow Yorkshire side back in 1993 as they spent a huge sum of money, relative to the time, to sign him and were not rewarded with much value on the pitch, or off it when they sold him four years later.
