Leeds United showed a lot of promise early on in the Championship this season under the tutelage of Thomas Christiansen. They played silky and eye-catching football and engineered decent results. However, loopholes in their squad emerged as the season progressed and after a series of unacceptable outputs, Christiansen was shown the door last month.
Paul Heckingbottom’s appointment has hardly helped their cause. The Whites have managed to collect merely a single point from their last four league games and have seemingly withered in the race for promotion to the Premier League. Heckingbottom and his troops need to come back stronger next season and it goes without saying that Leeds United need to be astute in their recruitment process in the summer.
One of the major problems for them has been the lack of cutting edge from their wingers. The likes of Ezgjan Alioski, Hadi Sacko and Stuart Dallas have been sporadic in their displays, which has put a lot of pressure on the strikers. In order to become genuine aspirants for promotion next season, the Yorkshire based outfit would need one or two wingers who have the potential to find the back of the net on a regular basis.
As per one of the latest reports by Record, Leeds United are understood to be interested in luring Benfica’s Diogo Goncalves to the Elland Road in the summer. Goncalves is one of the highly rated youngsters of Portuguese football. He plies his trade as a winger and can also play as a secondary striker. However, owing to the abundance of attacking options in Benfica’s arsenal, he has received limited opportunities to showcase his talent.
He has been handed merely 7 appearances in the Portuguese top flight so far this season, 4 of which have been off the bench. Intriguingly, he made 4 starts in the Champions League but at this stage of his career, Goncalves must be personally aiming to accumulate more game time under his belt. The 21-year-old is a cunning attacker and is found to be industrious and effective, more often than not, in the final third.
Besides, he crosses the ball well and has raw pace on offer. Leeds United’s owner, Andrea Radrizzani, had recently stated that he is keen to follow Wolverhampton Wanderers’ model of signing quality players. A lot of clients of Jorge Mendes have made a move to the Molineux Stadium of late and given Radrizzani’s close ties with Mendes, Leeds United might be able to make Goncalves sign on the dotted line in the summer.
Stats Courtesy: Squawka