Leeds United finally have their hands on Facundo Buonanotte half-a-season later than anticipated, after cutting short his Chelsea loan to move to Elland Road last week.
When Leeds entered the January window, the attacking third was the main focus for Daniel Farke and the 49ers’ recruitment team.
How they added creativity to the side would be an intriguing development. Leeds made their moves back in the summer to address that shortcoming, and have their long-awaited target as a result.
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Facundo Buonanotte waits for Leeds United debut after arriving on loan from Brighton
Last week, it emerged that Leeds had agreed to sign Facundo Buonanotte on loan from Brighton. A development that raised eyebrows, given the Argentine turned down a move to Leeds in the summer window in favour of Chelsea.
As virtually everyone apart from Buonanotte expected, he was a peripheral figure at Chelsea. His development was done no favours by joining the mass influx of young talent at Stamford Bridge, and Leeds managed to agree a deal to take him for the remainder of this season.
Joining on loan, he was named on the bench against Fulham. But, he was an unused sub as Leeds won it late through Lukas Nmecha’s fine finish. He’ll have got his first proper glimpse of Elland Road’s atmosphere in that second half.
Daniel Farke will be planning how to get Facundo Buonanotte ticking in his Leeds United squad. (Action Images via Reuters/Ed Sykes)
Buonanotte is now looking ahead to the Everton trip in six days’ time. At the Hill Dickinson Stadium, He’ll be hoping to make his debut under Farke.
Bizarre Chelsea, Facundo Buonanotte detail uncovered that Leeds United will not be happy with
Leeds had the private jet ready for Buonanotte in August. He instead decided moving to Chelsea with the lure of an elite club and Champions League football too strong for Leeds to fight against.
The notion of regular involvement was clearly presented to the 21-year-old, though. The Athletic reveal that Chelsea’s reason for signing Buonanotte was that they found no other suitable creative attackers.
“Sources speaking anonymously to The Athletic to protect relationships say not finding anyone suitable is also why Buonanotte was signed on loan,” the report reads.
Facundo Buonanotte joins Leeds United after lack of action at Chelsea. (Reuters/Peter Cziborra)
Annoyingly for Leeds, Buonanotte was seen merely as a stop-gap at Chelsea. They planned having him as cover while Palmer got back to fitness. Nothing more.
“But the 21-year-old Argentina international was always intended to only be at Stamford Bridge for the first half of this season, despite the deal being for all of it, as cover while Cole Palmer’s injury issues were being managed,” the report continues.
What’s worse is that between Chelsea signing Buonanotte on September 1st, and Palmer’s proper return from groin issues against Leeds in December, the Argentine played just 45 minutes of Premier League football. So, he wasn’t needed at all to cover Palmer, as Enzo Maresca barely used him.
Buonanotte did make three Champions League appearances for Chelsea with 163 minutes in total. But, he was initially left out of their UEFA squad, only included when Dario Essugo suffered an injury.
Competition Appearances Minutes played % played of totalminutes available
Premier League 1 45 2.7%
Champions League 3 163 30%
EFL Cup 3 241 67%
FA Cup 1 69 76.6%
Leeds United can put baffling Facundo Buonanotte, Chelsea saga behind them now
Given our form at the moment, losing just one game since the end of November, it’s hard to see how Buonanotte gets into our lineup. He doesn’t really at this stage.
However, adding a completely different profile to our squad – a creative, left-footed, right-sided attacking midfielder – is a huge addition for Farke.
He’s wanted that sort of signing for two-and-a-half years at Leeds. And, he’s finally got his hands on the ideal profile.
Buonanotte knows he made a mistake choosing Chelsea over Leeds. Thankfully, the deal was doable in January and we have a significant boost to our survival bid as a result.
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