While Daniel Farke is taking a lot of heat at the moment surrounding his incapabilities as a Premier League manager, the Leeds United players he keeps selecting also need to take their fair share of the blame for what is currently occurring.
Against Aston Villa last time out, Elland Road regulars such as Pascal Struijk and Joe Rodon didn’t cover themselves in glory whatsoever, with the Dutchman – in particular – looking weak physically, when winning just three of his eight attempted duels.
Moreover, Sean Longstaff, who stunned earlier on in the season with a goal and assist against AFC Bournemouth, looked noticeably flat up against the likes of Youri Tielemans for the energetic away side, leading to him giving possession away a costly 13 times.
Farke also has a part to play here, considering he works with the camp week in week out in trying to pick wins up, with the German clearly unable to inspire his team to get out of their rotten slump.
Still, he wouldn’t have foreseen how poor a start Lucas Perri would have made to life in England, as the Brazilian consistently looks uncomfortable in the Premier League.
Perri's poor start at Leeds
Leeds’ arrival back in the top-flight would have been met with equal levels of excitement and trepidation from the die-hard Elland Road fanbase.
Indeed, supporters would have been understandably over the moon that their beloved side had finally jumped back up to the big time.
But, they would have been worried immediately about their goalkeeper situation up a division, with an error-prone Illan Meslier cast to one side during the promotion run-in.
Unfortunately, despite splashing out £13.9m on his services this summer, the aforementioned Perri hasn’t looked like a steady pair of gloves whatsoever since joining, with a disastrous eight goals already given up in November alone.
The ex-Lyon stopper received plenty of pelters after the Villa defeat, too, when he remained frozen to his spot for Morgan Rogers to hammer home this delightful free-kick effort.
Ex-Leeds player Jon Newsome has even gone as far as to label Perri a complete “waste of funds”, and it could be argued he’s been a complete waste of time and energy, as well, considering his steep price tag, and his billing as a top-flight capable ‘keeper that would make Meslier a worry of the past.
Yet, despite all the abuse that has come his way, he isn’t the biggest waste of time in Farke’s camp currently.
Leeds have a bigger waste than Perri
At least in Perri’s case, he doesn’t have much competition breathing down his neck, with Farke surely extremely hesitant to chuck in Meslier to a relegation dog-fight, alongside another reserve figure in Karl Darlow.
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Therefore, the hope will be that the South American can play his way out of this mess, having started his choppy Leeds career with a promising clean sheet against Newcastle United.
On the contrary, Sebastiaan Bornauw already looks resigned to a place on the periphery, owing to recurring injury issues troubling him in West Yorkshire, and the likes of Joe Rodon, Pascal Struijk and Jaka Bijol being other options Farke can call upon in the heart of defence.
For a modest £5.1m fee, Leeds would have been hoping that they’d hit the jackpot with the assured Belgian, who had 140 Bundesliga appearances under his belt, before making the switch to England, with former Wolfsburg sporting director Marcel Schäfer previously hailing the former German top-flight titan as a consistently “strong” presence for his team.
Across those 140 games, Bornauw would help himself to a stable, if slightly unspectacular, 27 clean sheets, meaning he would have been viewed as a handy utility signing, too, when the deal was arranged, as Leeds prepared to use their full squad to beat the drop.
Instead, he has largely been injury-ridden since swapping Germany for West Yorkshire, with just one forgettable appearance coming his way so far in the EFL Cup versus Sheffield Wednesday.
For as much as Perri has largely been calamitous, at least he has made his presence known. Whereas Bornauw looks to already be burning a significant hole in Leeds’ wage bill, for how little action he has thrown himself into, with Leeds-based content creator Lewis Deighton rightly calling the unfolding situation out as “absolutely laughable”.
Amazingly, his £45k-per-week pay packet means he is earning more than the aforementioned Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu – who earn a lesser £40k-per-week salary each – despite both figures continuing to be ever-presents in the Farke regime.
It’s very clear how much Leeds dropped the ball this summer with unconvincing signings, as the under-pressure German now potentially pays the ultimate price with his job.
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