Leeds United had a rather hard time in terms of creating goal-scoring chances throughout the 2020/21 Premier League campaign.
Despite managing to avoid relegation to the Championship, the Whites only racked up 60 goal-creating actions in total – with only Wolves and the three relegated clubs managing fewer.
One player at the Yorkshire club that helped add to this particular tally is Rodrigo, who, despite making 31 league appearances throughout the season, could only register four goal-scoring actions for his side.
Now that the new Premier League campaign is in sight and the closing of the summer transfer window will come not too far behind, the next few weeks could give Victor Orta the chance to bring in what could be an ideal upgrade on Rodrigo.
One figure that has been mentioned with a move to Elland Road that could fit this criteria is Chelsea midfielder Hakim Ziyech.
Signed from Ajax back in the 2020 summer transfer window, the 29-year-old has made 83 appearances for the west London club across all competitions, scoring 14 goals and delivering 10 assists along the way.
To compare his previous Premier League campaign with Rodrigo’s, the Chelsea star managed to rack up the same number of goal contributions as the Spaniard (7), despite making eight fewer appearances than him.
In fact, the Moroccan also managed to have more shots at goal and shots on target than Rodrigo, as well as more goal-creating actions, successful dribbles and crosses (via FBref).
Even from a defensive point of view, the £100k-per-week dynamo managed to make more blocks and interceptions than the Leeds figure as well as racking up a higher percentage for aerial duels won.
This shows how much of an upgrade the former Ajax star could be Leeds if he were to join and take Rodrigo’s place in the team.
Hailed as having a “magic wand” of a left foot by journalist Alan Smith, Ziyech could be an excellent signing for the Whites this summer and would definitely help the team become more creative and deadly when it comes to making goal-scoring opportunities.
Moving forward, with previous reports suggesting that Chelsea would be willing to sell the midfielder for £8.4m this summer, Orta and Leeds should be at the front of the queue and do everything they can to bring him to Elland Road.
AND in other news: Orta could sign Leeds’ perfect Raphinha heir in £4.2m “animal”, Marsch wants him
