Leeds United have had their fair share of bad owners over the years, but the Andrea Radrizzani era has been absolutely brilliant for the Elland Road outfit.
Say what you will about the likes of Ken Bates, Massimo Cellino and Peter Ridsdale, but Radrizzani is one man who Leeds fans can have very few complaints about.
Without Radrizzani, the Marcelo Bielsa revolution never happens and perhaps Leeds would still be in the second-tier.
However, in an uncharacteristic move, Radrizzani has made a serious gaffe at Leeds this season, and it looks like it’s backfiring.
Indeed, in the summer window, Leeds weren’t active enough. They only signed one senior player in the shape of Junior Firpo, and a couple of months into the season, that looks like a mistake.
Leeds needed more quality and depth in their side, especially in midfield, but Radrizzani believed that the return of Adam Forshaw would provide adequate cover in that area.
The chairman even took to Twitter to tell a fan that a midfield signing wasn’t needed due to Forshaw’s return from injury.
Radrizzani and his staff seemingly had a lot of faith in Forshaw to step up this season, but needless to say, it hasn’t quite gone to plan.
Injury issues have persisted – limiting Forshaw to just 26 league minutes this season, and, to be honest, Radrizzani and his recruitment team should have seen this coming.
The midfielder hadn’t played a game for almost two years at the time of Radrizzani’s tweet, so why was he so convinced that Leeds could rely upon him?
Even if Forshaw’s fitness issues had all cleared up, he would have needed plenty of time to get back into the swing of things, and if we’re being brutally honest, Forshaw has never proven himself at this level – after all, he’s only ever played 36 Premier League games in his career and he didn’t exactly set the league alight during that time.
Leeds’ midfield has been a real problem this season. Rodrigo, Tyler Roberts, Stuart Dallas and Mateusz Klich have all underperformed so far and they could certainly do with another quality option in that area.
Radrizzani has been almost impeccable as Leeds’ owner, and we hate to criticise someone who has done so much for the club, but his Forshaw tweet and general sentiment behind it looks amateurish and short-sighted.
Fingers crossed this is something the Italian can address in January, because his inability to solve this problem in the summer may have already cost Leeds points.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
