Leeds United’s pursuit of a striker has been a bit of a nightmare this month as they’ve continuously been knocked back by transfer targets.
Ralph Hasenhuttl has made it clear that he doesn’t want Che Adams to leave, while Watford rejected Leeds’ initial approach for Andre Gray.
Their search for a new number nine has now seen them linked with Britt Assombalonga, which has understandably seen a few Leeds fans criticising Victor Orta for once again looking at Middlesbrough for a source of signings.
If we’re being brutally honest, Orta using his links at Boro once again is simply lazy and unimaginative, but that tells the tale of pretty much every attacker Leeds have been linked with this month.
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Che Adams, Jarrod Bowen and Dwight Gayle have all been linked with moves to Elland Road, and while they all look like they could be good signings – being proven goalscorers at this level – it doesn’t exactly take a genius to pick them out as targets.
Look at the list of Championship top scorers last term, aside from the players who are now established footballers at Premier League sides, Leeds have targeted every name on that list with the aforementioned trio and Billy Sharp.
Someone who knows hardly anything about football could devise that transfer strategy, but Orta is being employed by a professional club to point out the obvious, and this lack of imagination is costing Leeds.
Teemu Pukki almost single-handedly transformed Norwich from a mid-table side to league winners last year with his 29 goals after being a relative unknown just a year prior, but how likely are Leeds to unearth a gem like that with Orta at the helm?
Pukki didn’t cost Norwich a penny, and despite the Whites having FFP problems, they’re looking at a group of players that could cost them eight-figures. Dwight Gayle would reportedly be £20m, Che Adams would be at least £10m, Jarrod Bowen would cost an overall outlay of £18m.
If any of those above names came in and fired Leeds to promotion it would be Andrea Radrizzani who deserved the credit for getting his wallet out rather than Orta for finding the right player.
Coming up with the grand plan of signing an attacker who scored more than 20 goals last season for an eight-figure fee is just as unimaginative as going back to the well of signing another Middlesbrough player.
In other news, Leeds fans don’t want to sign this 29-year-old.