McGilligan bemoans lack of Patrick Bamford alternative

YouTuber Conor McGilligan has claimed that Leeds United have a big problem up front as they don’t have a like-for-like replacement for Patrick Bamford.

So far this season, fitness issues have limited the Whites forward to just two starts in the Premier League, totalling just 192 minutes spread across five games (via Transfermarkt).

As a result, manager Jesse Marsch has had to use alternative forwards like Rodrigo and Joe Gelhardt in his Leeds team, but McGilligan has argued that none of those players – nor the likes of Sam Greenwood, Wilfried Gnonto, Mateo Joseph and Sonny Perkins – can quite do the same job as Bamford.

While talking on the One Leeds Fan Channel, he said: “When you look at the profile of a striker, you look at Bamford – he’s 6ft 2, he’s able to compete. It’s really, really simple when everybody says, look at Willy Gnonto – we’ve not seen Gnonto yet – but look at Perkins, look at Gelhardt, look at Mateo Joseph.

“But the thing is, when you look at Pat Bamford, he’s 6ft 2, and as soon as he comes on, he uses his body exceptionally well, he’s not the biggest of lads, but he puts [Tyrone] Mings, he puts [Ezri] Konsa in uncompromising positions which they weren’t in beforehand with Rodrigo there.

“And I think that is the problem. We just have no one who has the same set of skills that Bamford does that is able to unnerve opposition defences and that is the problem.”

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TIF Thoughts on Patrick Bamford and Leeds…

When fit, Bamford has been key for Leeds. Indeed, in the one Premier League season where he played most of the games, he netted 17 goals. However, that was back in the 2020/21 season. Since then, he has played in 14 games, scoring on just two occasions – with no goals coming this term.

Evidently, he hasn’t been able to play as often in the team as Marsch would want, and while the likes of Gelhardt, Perkins, Greenwood, Gnonto and Joseph may all seem like exciting alternatives, their age profile suggests they might not be ready to step into the team and provide the same presence that Bamford does, seeing as most of them still tend to play at youth level.

So if Leeds really want to solve this issue, they may have to go back in the transfer market when January comes around and buy a physical, experienced striker, as it’s certainly beginning to feel as though Bamford can no longer be trusted to stay healthy and available.