Leeds United have had their fair share of memorable, forgettable, and somewhere-in-between, centre-forwards over the years at Elland Road.
From Luciano Becchio to Steve Morison, the Whites have had successes and failures in the number nine department and look to have hit the jackpot with the signing of Joel Piroe – who has scored eight goals in 16 appearances so far this season.
One player who arrived in Yorkshire and enjoyed a solid, yet brief, time at the club was Italian striker Mirco Antenucci, who was signed by former Leeds boss David Hockaday ahead of the 2014/15 Championship season.
He went on to produce 19 goals and eight assists in 80 first-team appearances for the Whites, which included ten goals in 36 league outings during his debut campaign in English football.
The veteran marksman then left for nothing on a free transfer at the end of the 2015/16 season, upon the expiry of his initial two-year deal, and has gone on to enjoy a fantastic end to his career – with more goals than Patrick Bamford since the summer 2016.
Antenucci’s statistics since leaving Leeds
The 39-year-old, who currently plays in the third tier of Italian football, joined SPAL in the summer of 2016 and helped them to win promotion up to the Serie A with 18 goals and seven assists in 37 league matches.
Antenucci then showcased his qualities at the top level with 11 goals and five assists in 33 Serie A games for the club, followed up by five goals in 33 top-flight games the following term.
He then moved to Bari, a third division outfit, in 2019 and went on to plunder an eye-catching 63 goals and 15 assists in 141 appearances.
The veteran marksman returned to SPAL at the start of this season and has contributed with two goals and one assist in 17 matches in all competitions so far for the Italian side, who are in the Serie C.
In total, Antenucci has scored 101 goals and provided 29 assists in 267 games for SPAL and Bari combined since he left Leeds on a free.
Bamford’s goal record since the summer of 2016
The current Leeds centre-forward – Bamford – has not enjoyed as prolific a time as the Italian gem since the end of the 2015/16 campaign.
He produced one goal in 15 appearances for Middlesbrough and Burnley combined throughout the 2016/17 season, having completed a permanent move to the former from Chelsea in January of that term.
Bamford went on to score 13 goals in 44 outings during the following campaign and that led to his move to Elland Road in the summer of 2018.
The one-time England international has racked up 51 goals in 162 matches for the Whites since that move, which included 17 Premier League goals during the 2020/21 season.
This means that he has managed 65 goals in 221 appearances for Boro, Burnley, and Leeds since the summer of 2016, which is 36 fewer than Antenucci has plundered in the same time period.
He did not enjoy an outstanding spell at Championship level over his two seasons in England but it is fair to say that the Italian dynamo has gone on to enjoy a prolific time in his home country since moving on from Yorkshire.
