Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke has a dilemma to ponder during the October international break, regarding his first-choice centre-forward.
Mateo Joseph started the season as the go-to option at the top end of the pitch for the Whites but was dropped to the bench for the 2-2 draw with Sunderland last week.
The Spain U21 international, who has come up through the academy at Thorp Arch, started the first eight Championship games of the campaign and contributed with one goal from 1.9 xG, along with three assists.
Joel Piroe was then brought into the starting XI against the Black Cats and made an instant impact, with a well-placed header from Wilfried Gnonto’s cross.
It was his fourth goal of the league season for Leeds, having scored three goals off the bench prior to that, and Farke must now decide who his first-choice is going to be out of the two of them moving forward.
The 25-year-old Dutchman, who scored 13 Championship goals during the regular season last term, is the experienced option, but Joseph is only 20 and has plenty of potential to fulfill.
31-year-old marksman Patrick Bamford may still have something to say but the former England international has struggled in front of goal in recent seasons.
Patrick Bamford's struggles for Leeds
The ex-Middlesbrough star helped to fire Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds team to the Premier League with a return of 16 goals and two assists in 45 matches during the 2019/20 campaign.
Bamford then made the step up to the top-flight and contributed with a staggering 17 goals – even more than he had managed in the second tier – and seven assists in 38 matches.
Unfortunately, the Englishman was unable to sustain that impressive form at Premier League level and the 35 games he missed through injury in the 2021/22 campaign contributed to that.
Appearances
9
28
Goals
2
4
Big chances missed
2
13
Assists
2
2
Big chances created
2
1
As you can see in the table above, Bamford only made nine appearances in his second season in the top-flight with Leeds but then struggled in front of goal upon his return to regular action.
The forward scored four goals from an xG tally of 8.61 and missed a whopping 13 ‘big chances’ in 28 matches as the Whites were relegated from the Premier League.
These statistics show that the striker, who scored eight goals from 9.52 xG in the Championship last term, was an unreliable source of goals for Bielsa, Jesse Marsch, Javi Gracia, and Sam Allardyce in his last two years in the top-flight, after his impressive start to life at Elland Road.
Things could have been different for Leeds, though, if they had invested in a new striker to compete with or replace Bamford, as they had been interested in Jean-Philippe Mateta in 2021.
Leeds' interest in Jean-Philippe Mateta
At the start of 2021, Football Insider revealed that the Whites had a ‘concrete’ interest in signing the promising French centre-forward from Bundesliga side Mainz.
It was claimed that the 23-year-old number nine was being tracked by Leeds sporting director Victor Orta, who has since moved on to join Sevilla, after emerging on the club’s radar through their scouting team.
Football Insider added that Mateta was gaining strong interest from a host of Premier League clubs but did not reveal how much Mainz wanted for the attacker.
The outlet did reveal, though, that the West Yorkshire outfit were assessing a number of strikers across Europe’s major leagues, as they wanted a new forward who would suit their style of play, given their tendency to send plenty of crosses into the box, and the Frenchman ticked their boxes.
Mateta had scored seven goals in 12 starts for Mainz during the first half of the season in the Bundesliga, finishing 24% of the chances that had fallen his way, which attracted interest from Leeds and other teams in the Premier League.
One that got away
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The Whites eventually opted to back Bamford as their first-choice striker, instead, and Crystal Palace swooped to sign the forward on a year-long loan, before signing him permanently for a fee of £9m in February 2022.
Leeds may now look back on Mateta as one that got away from them, as the centre-forward has soared in value, whilst Bamford – as aforementioned – has struggled.
Jean-Philippe Mateta's current market value
During the recent transfer window, London News Online reported that Crystal Palace currently value the attacker at a whopping fee of €30m (£25m).
It was claimed that Napoli, managed by Antonio Conte, had a firm interest in the forward, before they went on to sign Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea, whilst Real Betis, Eintracht Frankfurt, and RB Leipzig had also been keen on the impressive striker.
This interest from across Europe has emerged after the Eagles sensation’s sublime form in the Premier League during the 2023/24 campaign.
Appearances
35
Starts
25
Goals
16
xG
10.94
Assists
5
As you can see in the table above, Mateta produced a stunning 21 goals and assists combined in 25 starts for Palace in the top-flight last season, outperforming his xG by around five goals.
The 27-year-old star then went to the Olympics with France and fired in an eye-catching five goals in six appearances for his country, taking his goal tally to 24 goals in all competitions for club and country – including three goals in two EFL Cup games.
Such was the impressive nature of his performances for Palace, New York Times journalist Rory Smith hailed Mateta as “extraordinary” and claimed that he was “like original Ronaldo” under Oliver Glasner.
That is incredibly high praise, given Ronaldo scored 62 goals in 99 caps for Brazil during his career, and speaks to how eye-catching the Frenchman’s goalscoring exploits in the Premier League were for the Eagles.
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Therefore, Leeds will surely look at him as one that got away from them as he has developed into a superb and highly valuable centre-forward in the subsequent years since their ‘concrete’ interest in his services.