The Yorkshire Evening Post reveals that Leeds had all but agreed deals with four seasoned Premiership players, only to see them collapse at the 11th hour because of a lack of funding.
Peter Reid admitted that advanced talks had taken place with Patrik Berger, Henning Berg, Markus Babbel and Paolo di Canio and they were all on the verge of signing.
Reid said in the YEP: "I was hoping to bring in new players during the summer. I had talks with quite a few who were all available on free transfers and was hopeful that we could do something.
"In the end, we had to go for the loan players because time was against us and we couldn't push the other deals through.
"I'm just hoping that Leeds can stay up," said Reid. "The fans are different class at Leeds.
"I will always remember them for their support and they deserve a Premiership football club."