With January fast approaching, the Leeds United rumour mill will go into overdrive and it wouldn't be the transfer windoww as we know it if Leeds weren't linked with a number of ex-players. In recent times, we have been linked to Matt Kilgallon, Luciano Becchio, Jermaine Beckford, Max Gradel, Harry Kewell, Eric Lichaj and a whole host of other names that have been met with varying degrees of excitement and derision (Harry Kewell anyone?) However, two names consistently crop up and have been confirmed as targets by those at the club and they are: mercurial Ivorian Max Gradel and Argentine bulldozer Luciano Becchio, but should Leeds look to those who have already played for the club before?
Firstly, let's look at Luciano Becchio. The man from Córdoba reportedly arrived for his trial at Leeds with a pair of boots and a one-way plane ticket. From such humble beginnings became a modern day hero for the club. In a period of four and a half seasons, Becchio smashed in 87 goals in 221 appearances for the club. However, with his contract soon up for renewal, Becchio was moved on as so many others had before him because Leeds were unwilling to pay his wages. Now at Norwich, Becchio played 8 times last season and has rarely played this season, still looking for his first goal for the Canaries. Towards the end of the loan window he spoke out saying he wanted to leave the club on loan, knowing full well that there were plenty of potential suitors (at this point Luciano had only played 14 minutes of first team football in the 2013/14 season). Brian McDermott was quick to declare an interest but Hughton put the brakes on any potential move and Becchio still remains a Norwich player. He is likely to be available in January and with Leeds nestled in the play-offs we are in a good position to strengthen but should we go for him? Well his goalscoring record speaks for itself and he is most certainly a fan's favourite, his link up play can sometimes be lacking but he has that striker's knack of being in the right place at the right time. So far so good. However, I feel we need a player who has played lots of football and can hit the ground running, someone like Nakhi Wells or Danny Ings, who, for some reason we are one of the favourites to sign and we saw how Steve Morison struggled last year after rarely playing for Norwich.
Max Gradel has also rarely featured in his third full season at St Etienne after a bad knee injury put him out of action for a while. This season he has bagged two goals in seven appearances for the first team and it is thought he is angling for a move away from France. Normally if someone offered a Leeds fan a Max Gradel for Christmas we'd bite their hand off. His pace and goalscoring ability could be crucial in the long slog that is the Championship but ther is a but, even if it's only a little one. No-one really knows how much of an impact his knee injury has had, it could be that he has lost that extra yard of pace that made him so unpredictably brilliant but even so, he is still likely to outpace the majority of the journeymen full backs in this division. We are also assuming that Gradel wants to come to Leeds. Sure, a few tweets have set fans tongues wagging, but would he willingly give up his wages and top flight status to come back to Elland Road?
In reality, it's all going to come down to money and the takeover bid which has to be ratified by the Football League still hasn't gone through however, if both were available for a reasonable price I would have Gradel back in a flash and probably would welcome back Becchio, so in this case the ghosts of Christmas past may not be so bad after all.
Firstly, let's look at Luciano Becchio. The man from Córdoba reportedly arrived for his trial at Leeds with a pair of boots and a one-way plane ticket. From such humble beginnings became a modern day hero for the club. In a period of four and a half seasons, Becchio smashed in 87 goals in 221 appearances for the club. However, with his contract soon up for renewal, Becchio was moved on as so many others had before him because Leeds were unwilling to pay his wages. Now at Norwich, Becchio played 8 times last season and has rarely played this season, still looking for his first goal for the Canaries. Towards the end of the loan window he spoke out saying he wanted to leave the club on loan, knowing full well that there were plenty of potential suitors (at this point Luciano had only played 14 minutes of first team football in the 2013/14 season). Brian McDermott was quick to declare an interest but Hughton put the brakes on any potential move and Becchio still remains a Norwich player. He is likely to be available in January and with Leeds nestled in the play-offs we are in a good position to strengthen but should we go for him? Well his goalscoring record speaks for itself and he is most certainly a fan's favourite, his link up play can sometimes be lacking but he has that striker's knack of being in the right place at the right time. So far so good. However, I feel we need a player who has played lots of football and can hit the ground running, someone like Nakhi Wells or Danny Ings, who, for some reason we are one of the favourites to sign and we saw how Steve Morison struggled last year after rarely playing for Norwich.
Max Gradel has also rarely featured in his third full season at St Etienne after a bad knee injury put him out of action for a while. This season he has bagged two goals in seven appearances for the first team and it is thought he is angling for a move away from France. Normally if someone offered a Leeds fan a Max Gradel for Christmas we'd bite their hand off. His pace and goalscoring ability could be crucial in the long slog that is the Championship but ther is a but, even if it's only a little one. No-one really knows how much of an impact his knee injury has had, it could be that he has lost that extra yard of pace that made him so unpredictably brilliant but even so, he is still likely to outpace the majority of the journeymen full backs in this division. We are also assuming that Gradel wants to come to Leeds. Sure, a few tweets have set fans tongues wagging, but would he willingly give up his wages and top flight status to come back to Elland Road?
In reality, it's all going to come down to money and the takeover bid which has to be ratified by the Football League still hasn't gone through however, if both were available for a reasonable price I would have Gradel back in a flash and probably would welcome back Becchio, so in this case the ghosts of Christmas past may not be so bad after all.