How much better would the Leeds United striker be if James Beattie stayed at Elland Road?
According to The Sun, former Leeds boss Garry Monk is on the brink of joining Middlesbrough – and he will bring James Beattie with him.
Beattie has been first-team coach at Leeds for the past 12 months after Monk brought him and assistant Pep Clotet to Elland Road last summer.
If the rumours are true and the former Southampton hitman does wind up leaving Leeds then the biggest casualty might be Whites striker Chris Wood.
The 25-year-old scored 30 goals for United last week – 27 in the Championship.
Fans of the Yorkshire club might have laughed had you told them he would scale those heights this time last year, given how Wood barely scraped double figures in the 2014-15 campaign.
But it is clear that the New Zealand marksman benefited hugely from working alongside Beattie, who has 96 Premier League goals under his belt.
Of course, Wood won’t forget everything he has learned over the past 12 months and Leeds fans will expect another prolific season if he ends up staying.
The question is, how much better would he get with another season of learning from Beattie?
At 25, Wood has a few years before he reaches his peak and it is a shame that we may never know if his 2016-17 campaign was just the tip of the iceberg.
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