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Leeds United have James Trafford in goal, hopefully for years to come, which bookends some woeful recruitment between the sticks from years gone by.
The £40million Leeds spent to rectify the Elland Road No1 spot was not only a strong long-term investment for the future, but it signified an end to what’s been a wretched period of inconsistency in goal.
Over the years, very few have enjoyed consistently good form in goal for Leeds. And, ironically, one of the best goalkeepers to pass through Leeds’ ranks in recent years never even made a senior appearance here.
Elia Caprile tops Serie A player ratings after premature Leeds United decision
It’s remarkable to see how Elia Caprile’s career has flourished since being sold by Leeds without playing once for the first team.
Signed as one of the many U21 investments, he was one of the majority that didn’t surprisingly make the grade. However, unlike a lot of the others, Caprile has gone on to have a great career away from West Yorkshire.
Now, he’s at Cagliari after his raising stock earned him a move to Napoli. So far this season, he’s performing as one of, if not the best player in the Serie A.
That’s according to Sofascore’s average player ratings. They name Caprile as the best player in the Italian top flight so far this season with an average score of 8.03. His latest performance helped earn Cagliari a 1-1 draw vs Juventus, producing nine saves, four of which from inside the box.
Not only on that website, but FotMob clearly agree to a certain extent, giving him a rating of 7.89 – fourth in the entire division.
Lucas Perri endures mixed start away from Leeds United on loan at Torino
There’s another goalkeeper worth looking at in the Serie A too, and it’s Lucas Perri. The Brazilian is on loan at Torino due to being replaced by Trafford in the summer, and has had a testing start to life in Italy.
In four league games this season, Perri has shipped seven goals with Torino sitting 12th in the table.
While Caprile ranks as the best goalkeeper in the division out of 19 that have been given an average, Perri unfortunately sits bottom of the rankings. He’s scored a rating of 6.40 so far.
It’s early days yet for Perri. And, there have been some strong saves in the midst of what’s perceived as a bad rating. So, there’s hope yet that we can turn it around.
For Leeds, we watch with some confidence that he performs well enough to trigger his reported £12million buy option. It would be a good boost for his confidence as well as our finances moving forward.