With Lukas Nmecha on board and Jaka Bijol in the door, and said to have undergone a medical at Leeds United, Adam Underwood is starting to make real inroads this summer.
There were doubts over Underwood following Leeds’ announcement that the departing Nick Hammond would be replaced by Underwood. The 49ers chose to promote from within, rather than hire externally.
Underwood has been at Leeds for years in several different roles. But with such an important summer ahead, the need to get recruitment right and hiring an unproven sporting director had fans concerned.
However, Underwood is changing that belief. Bijol is a real coup and Nmecha makes sense, and Leeds’ next possible signing will see Underwood win a whole heap of trust from the Elland Road faithful.
Leeds are in advanced talks to sign Lecce’s Nikola Krstovic, after seeing a £32m bid for Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz rejected. It would be a stellar signing, but Krstovic himself has thrown a spanner in the works.
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Nikola Krstovic stance on next club is a worry for Leeds United
Sky in Italy say that Leeds have made an offer for Krstovic. It comes after the Montenegro star sparkled in a poor Lecce side, having a hand in 16 of Lecce’s 27 Serie A goals – keeping Lecce up single-handedly.
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Krstovic has been strongly linked with some of Italy’s biggest sides. But Leeds have already shown their prowess by beating the likes of Milan and Roma to the imminent signing of defender Bijol from Udinese.
It is claimed a £30m fee would be required to sign Krstovic. However, Calcio Lecce also say that Krstovic prefers to remain in Italy and join a bigger Serie A side, rather than moving to the Premier League.
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Nikola Krstovic’s 2024-25 numbers compared to Joel Piroe
There are doubts about Joel Piroe. Ever since he arrived at Elland Road, fans have not been convinced by him. Yes, he won last season’s Championship Golden Boot, but Piroe often goes missing in matches.
For example, his four-goal clinic in finishing against Stoke City came after a goalless run of nine games. He netted 19 goals in the Championship last season, a tally that would never normally win the award.
Piroe and Krstovic league form compared:
Name Club Division Games Goals Assists Minutes per G+A
Joel Piroe Leeds Championship 46 19 7 118.9
Nikola Krstovic Lecce Serie A 37 11 5 191.9
On the face of it, Piroe’s numbers look much better. But Piroe did this in a Leeds side that was the best team in the division. Krstovic did it in a tougher league, in a side that finished in 17th place out of 20.
Place Krstovic in Leeds’ Championship side of last season, it is easy to imagine that the Lecce star would have far outperformed Piroe in terms of numbers. Certainly, Piroe may have struggled in Krstovic’s role.