Phil Hay believes that Leeds United have to admit they made a mistake in the summer and sign a new left-back in the upcoming transfer windows.
Over the summer, it appeared quite clear Leeds needed to sign a new left-back, with Junior Firpo picking up a hamstring injury, Leif Davis being sold and Stuart Dallas becoming a long-term absentee, leaving them with no natural to play in that position.
This has left Pascal Struijk having to fill in at left-back this season and he will likely have to do so for even longer as Firpo has now picked up yet another injury despite only returning recently against Aston Villa.
Speaking on The Phil Hay Show, Hay claimed that Leeds should now bite the bullet and bring in a new left-back amidst Firpo’s injury woes.
He said: “It seems to me that at some point, they’re going to have to bite the bullet at left-back and sign somebody else. It doesn’t necessarily need to be somebody vastly experienced – it could be a project of sorts, provided that you feel confident enough to play them in first-team games.”
Do Leeds need to sign a new left-back?
Yes!
No!
TIF Thoughts on Leeds’ left-back situation…
Leeds are now very much in a rut of form as things stand having not won since the end of August, which means they’ve gone five games without a win in the league and slipped down into the bottom half.
While it can be acknowledged that they aren’t scoring enough goals – just four in their last five games – they’ve also only kept two clean sheets in the league all season, and when Jesse Marsch is playing three centre-backs in a traditional back four, that may not come as a surprise.
Without even needing hindsight, Leeds will likely know that not signing a left-back over the summer was a big gamble and one that ultimately hasn’t paid off. And if Firpo continues to suffer from injury problems, it could well cost them a season of safety and not stressing over the threat of relegation.