OPINION
Leeds are going to be in the market for a new goalkeeper in January after their Chelsea loanee Jamal Blackman broke his leg and had his loan spell cut short – according to the Yorkshire Evening Post, it’s a “priority” for the club. Blackman’s on his way back to Stamford Bridge with a sense that things could have worked out very differently for him. Current number one Bailey Peacock-Farrell has come in for a lot of criticism recently and there was a growing call for Blackman to get his chance in the first-team.
However, that’s all a matter of conjecture. As is who Leeds are going to bring in either to be back-up to Peacock-Farrell, or to be the new number one. It might seem harsh on Peacock-Farrell if he was demoted, but he has made a number of mistakes and every point counts on the run-in to promotion.
One name that is being talked about a lot on Twitter is 33-year-old David Stockdale. The Birmingham keeper has been frozen out of the first-team set-up at Birmingham and hasn’t even been making the squad, despite making 36 appearances for them in the Championship last season.
Leeds Live have said that would be one deal that would be easy to do in January but would the Leeds fans want him? We trawled Twitter to find out.
One fan doesn’t think that he’d be an upgrade on Peacock-Farrell, which would mean he would probably be back-up to the youngster if he did make the switch. Another was even tougher, saying that he was “pretty much BPF’s dad”.
Stockdale is a decent keeper who would provide decent competition but is no less prone to ricketts than BP-F. #lufc
— Michael Green (@Michael_Green__) November 20, 2018
Concerning that people want us to sign Stockdale who is pretty much BPF’s dad.
— Leeds All Over (@LeedsAllOver) November 20, 2018
However, there are fans who rate Stockdale higher though. Neil Burrows said that he’d take Stockdale or Kieran Westwood and another fan agreed, but said he want Tom Heaton ahead of Westwood.
I'd still take Stockdale or Westwood
— neil burrows (@neibur66) November 17, 2018
I'd take Stockdale if he'd take a realistic offer I'd consider Heaton before Westwood for me Westwood had too much history with #LUFC & #LUFC fans
— Leeds Fan in Chicago (@ChicagoWhite) November 17, 2018
Either Westwood, Stockdale or heaton will do me
— David Michael Cox (@gurucox) November 20, 2018
Stockdale or Heaton. Makes sense
— Scott Eaglen (@ScottEaglen) November 20, 2018
Let's be honest, there isn't a chance in hell that Burnley will sell us Heaton, more realistic options would be Stockdale, Forster or Amos.
— Pureforms (@pureforms) November 20, 2018
Westwood and Stockdale not doing much wonder if we will go in for one in January, need experience to challenge #lufc
— Irish_Leeds (@Irish_Leeds) November 16, 2018
He’s coming to Leeds, he’s coming to Leeds he’s David Stockdale he’s coming to Leeds!
— christian (@xtian1) November 14, 2018
One fan asked if Leeds could take a goalkeeper on an emergency loan but that’s not possible as Leeds still have a number one. If anything happened to Peacock-Farrell or he was suspended, that situation would change.
Are we able to get a keeper in on an 'emergency loan' ??
Surely Stockdale must be on the #LUFC radar if we can.
— michael smith (@miffy66) November 16, 2018
CONCLUSION
The majority of Leeds fans think that Stockdale is a decent option. Most of the chat seems to be about Tom Heaton but there are many Leeds fans who don’t think their club would be able to land him in January. Stockdale is definitely an option that would be fairly straightforward to complete if Leeds wanted him.