Highlights
- Leeds United are looking at a £20m forward to solve their striker woes.
- He comfortably outperformed Patrick Bamford last season.
- The player found the net on 11 occasions throughout the 2022/23 campaign.
Leeds United are in desperate need of reinforcements over the remaining few weeks of the transfer window, and now a new update has emerged on the club’s pursuit of a potential transfer target.
Who could Leeds sign?
According to Last Word On Sports, Leeds are considering a move for Aston Villa talent Cameron Archer.
As per the report, the Whites are keen to add another centre-forward to their squad this summer and the youthful striker is one of the names being considered by the club’s hierarchy.
How good is Cameron Archer?
Whilst Daniel Farke will have many areas of the squad he will be keen to bolster in the coming days and weeks, the striker role is a position that needs addressing as soon as possible.
Spanish goal machine Rodrigo made a permanent move to the Saudi Pro League this summer, while Patrick Bamford has suffered yet another setback after picking up a hamstring injury in pre-season and Georgino Rutter has only just returned from his own knock.
This has left Farke with only Joe Gelhardt to deploy in one of the most important roles on the pitch and has so far been uninspiring – with not a single shot on or off target in their most recent outing against Birmingham City.
As a result, the signing of Archer – who has a reported £20m price tag – would be a great piece of business for Leeds as they desperately search for ways to improve the squad at Elland Road and comfortably compete in the Championship this season.
The Aston Villa academy graduate has been going from strength to strength in his development over the last 12 months, with a successful six-month loan with Middlesbrough in the second tier last season and this summer won the European Championship with the England U21s.
Over 20 appearances last season, the 21-year-old sensation scored 11 goals, registered six assists and created five big chances, as well as averaging 1.1 successful dribbles, 1.3 key passes and 1.9 shots on goal per game, according to SofaScore.
Archer’s performances in the final third at the Riverside Stadium led to high praise from head coach and Manchester United legend Michael Carrick:
“He’s smart and he’s clever. His link-up play and all-round game, for being a little bit smaller, he uses his body really well. All round it was a really good performance and getting his goals is obviously a massive lift for him.”
In fact, only Rodrigo scored more goals (15) over the entire Premier League campaign last season for Leeds than Archer did in six months on Teesside, a testament to how poor the west Yorkshire side’s efforts in front of goal have become and proof as to how important this signing could be.
When comparing Archer’s output with Bamford’s last season, the Villa talent comfortably outperformed his more experienced position competitor in a number of key attributes including goal contributions (17 v 6), shots on target rate (45.9% v 33.3%), shot-creating actions per 90 (2.79 v 1.60), goal-creating actions per 90 (1.02 v 0.36) and successful take-ons (46.8% v 32.4%), as per FBref.
With that being said, it would be a no-brainer for Leeds to snap up the services of Archer this summer as he could add crucial depth in the centre-forward role and significantly improve the goal threat at Elland Road over the long campaign ahead.
