Despite spending a decent amount of money on new players since they managed to win promotion from the Championship after a 16-year absence from the Premier League, there are still a number of players at Leeds United that were part of the side that helped the club get back to the top-flight.
One of those players, who has since become a crucial figure for Marcelo Bielsa, is striker Patrick Bamford.
Leeds signed the Englishman back in the 2018 summer transfer window from Middlesbrough in a deal worth a reported fee of £10m.
Since then, the 28-year-old has gone on to make a total of 117 appearances for the Yorkshire club across all competitions, more than any other club he’s played for in his career, scoring 45 goals and providing 17 assists along the way.
Last season proved just how vital the centre-forward is to Leeds by not only playing in all 38 of their league games but also scoring a total of 17 goals in those appearances and earning himself an impressive overall performance rating of 7.03/10, making him their third-highest rated outfield player according to WhoScored.
Shortly after joining the Whites, Transfermarkt had the striker’s market value listed at £5.4m, whereas it now stands at £18m, highlighting the significant increase it has had since he became a Leeds player based on his impressive goalscoring efforts on the pitch.
This goes to show what a great piece of business it was from the club to sign the striker and give him the opportunity to be their main goalscorer.
Labelled as an “exceptional” player last season by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, Bamford’s absences through injury this season have also shown how useful he is for the team in front of goal, with Leeds only having scored 27 league goals in 23 games compared to the 40 they managed to score after 23 league games last season.
Moving forward, if Leeds want to have any hope of ending the season comfortably away from the relegation zone, they will have to hope that Bamford can come back to full fitness sooner rather than later and start scoring consistently again.
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