Leeds United have started well in the Premier League, after bouncing back to the top flight for the first time in two years. Daniel Farke’s side have been something of a yo-yo team in recent times, with this being their fourth campaign in the top flight in the last seven seasons.

The Whites only just managed to stay in the Premier League in the 2021/22 campaign, ending 17th that season, after a strong finish of ninth the year before.

The man who kept them up by the skin of their teeth four years ago was Jesse Marsch, who was eventually dismissed despite some statement signings during his tenure.

Marsch’s prominent signings at Leeds

51-year-old Marsch brought 11 new faces to Elland Road during his time at the club. One of those, goalkeeper Joel Robles, was a free transfer, and another joined on loan, with Weston McKennie switching Juventus for Leeds for six months in 2023.

The most expensive addition that the Wisconsin-born manager made during his time as Leeds boss was Georginio Rutter. The Frenchman was, and still is, the club’s record signing from German side Hoffenheim. He cost the Whites £35.5m back in January 2023.

Nowadays, the former Leeds striker plays for Premier League rivals Brighton and Hove Albion, where he moved for £40m. He has 14 goals and assists for the Seagulls so far, and is yet to get close to his Leeds tally of 26 goal involvements.

Not only did Marsch purchase Leeds’ most expensive player of all time, but he also bought the man second on that list. Brenden Aaronson cost the Yorkshire outfit £24.7m in 2022 and is still at the club today.

The attacker has chipped in with 15 goals and assists in 95 games.

Aaronson is not the only Marsch signing still plying his trade at Leeds. There is another player now worth far more than what they paid for him.

The Marsch signing whose value has skyrocketed

There are certainly some of the signings made by Marsch which have turned out to be good additions to Leeds’ squad. Rutter, for example, saw the club make a healthy £5m profit on the deal, and Aaronson is a key player under Farke today.

Well, perhaps the biggest success story of the lot has been Italian attacker Wilfried Gnonto. The 21-year-old has been a Leeds player for some time now, joining the club back in 2022 at the end of the transfer window. He cost just £3.8m from Swiss side FC Zurich.

Throughout his time at Elland Road, Gnonto has shown why Leeds invested in him despite being just 18 years of age at the time. In 123 games for the Whites so far, Gnonto has found the back of the net 22 times and assisted 14 goals.

His best season for the Yorkshire giants came in the 202425 campaign, where they got promoted back to the Premier League. Gnonto played a huge part in their Championship title win, scoring nine times and assisting six in 43 games.

To further reinforce Gnonto’s quality in a Leeds shirt, take a look at some of his underlying numbers from the Championship last term.

One of the standout stats is the 4.27 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes he created, which placed him in the top 6% of forwards in the second tier.

Goals and assists

0.59

94th

Key passes

1.82

84th

Progressive passes

4.9

92nd

Shot-creating actions

4.27

94th

Carries into final third

2.41

90th

With all that in mind, it might not be a surprise to learn that the value of the “explosive” winger, as football scout Antonio Mango called him, has absolutely skyrocketed. He has certainly improved leaps and bounds since the Whites paid the cut-price fee of £3.8m three years ago.

Nowadays, according to Football Transfers, the Italian youngster is worth an impressive £22.8m, a higher amount than anyone in the Leeds squad. That is an eye-watering increase of 500% from the original deal the Yorkshire side got.

Gnonto has certainly been worth the cheap fee that the Whites paid for him three summers ago. Given the fact that he is just 21 years of age, there is still plenty of time for his value to shoot up and for the impressive performances to continue.