Noel Whelan has named Newcastle United striker Dwight Gayle as a player that Leeds United should be looking to make a move for this summer.
Leeds finished the regular Championship season in third place, just missing out on automatic promotion after an end-of-season downturn in form, and Marcelo Bielsa’s side were beaten in the play-off semi-finals by Derby County after losing the second leg 4-2 at Elland Road on Wednesday.
Whelan, a former Leeds striker, has revealed that the Bielsa’s side should be targeting a forward who can score goals regularly in the Championship, and has named Gayle, who scored 24 times whilst on loan with West Bromwich Albion, as the right player to buy this summer.
“You need a prolific goalscorer to get promotion and that is what Leeds are crying out for. Look at all the missed chances this season, the brilliant approach play that was ruined by powderpuff finishing,” Whelan told Football Insider.
“Kemar Roofe and Patrick Bamford are both good strikers but they’re not going to get you 25 a season, like [Teemu] Pukki did for Norwich and Billy Sharp did at Sheffield United.
“The perfect signing would be Dwight Gayle. He’s a prolific scorer and proven in the Championship. Leeds can win promotion if they get him.”
OPINION
Whelan is right to highlight that Leeds’ failure to gain promotion to the Premier League this season, in Bielsa’s year in charge, has been somewhat due to poor finishing. Leeds have lacked the kind of clinical edge provided by strikers like Gayle, who as Whelan suggests is a proven goal scorer in the Championship having hit over twenty goals in his last two full seasons in the division. If Leeds would have had a more ruthless striker, like the 28-year-old, up front this season, then they may have been able to get over the line and secure promotion to the Premier League. Bielsa’s side were top of the table at Christmas this season, but a loss of form during the second half of the season, and poor run in cost meant they had to settle for the play-offs. Roofe getting injured did play a part in that, with Bamford the only other real option for Bielsa to call on up front. Were Leeds to sign Gayle, who will be a player in demand this summer, it would certainly give themselves that extra quality upfront which could be the difference between earning promotion next season.