Journalist Phil Hay has admitted that there’s still nothing close in terms of Leeds United signing a new striker.
Despite seven new signings arriving this summer at Elland Road, the striker position has still not been addressed despite Patrick Bamford’s continued injury woes and the fact Joe Gelhardt is still relatively inexperienced at Premier League level.
The burden has fallen onto the shoulders of Rodrigo this season – someone who was seemingly not trusted as a striker last time out. However, he’s repaid the faith shown in him this term with four goals and an assist thus far, although having more solid striking backup wouldn’t likely be turned down by the Leeds faithful.
But speaking on The Phil Hay Show, the Athletic journalist claimed he has heard nothing in terms of Leeds bringing in a new striker before Thursday’s deadline.
He said: “It’s that crucial point of the window now where you can no longer delay because you’re buying time, or can no longer delay because you want to keep your powder dry and see what happens. If you’re going to sign anybody else and if you’re going to do business, it’s got to happen, and it’s got to happen pretty quickly.
Do Leeds need to sign a new striker?
Yes!
No!
“I have to say, over the weekend, still not getting the vibes that anything is likely to be coming at Leeds. I do have that little niggle in the back of my head that they might just be once bitten twice shy from last season when it comes to the pressure there to sign a striker.”
TIF Thoughts on Leeds’ striker situation…
It is a big gamble that Leeds appear to be taking with the Whites looking unlikely to bring in a new striker at present.
Bamford clearly has huge injury issues and is struggling to get over them and it’s a lot of pressure to put on Rodrigo, especially when he’s currently massively outscoring his xG ratio of 2.3, having netted on four occasions (as per FBref).
There have been links to strikers in the form of Hwang Hee-chan most recently, although it remains to be seen how keen Leeds are to push a deal through before the deadline and what his price would be.
Something that may be playing on the minds of the Leeds board and Jesse Marsch is that there is a huge gap in the season due to the World Cup, and once that is over, the January transfer window is just around the corner, so they may well keep faith in what they’ve got and then see how they are at the turn of the year.