Leeds missed out on on Romaine Sawyers this past summer
It could be a very nervy night for Leeds United this evening as Marcelo Bielsa’s side welcome West Bromwich Albion to Elland Road.
It’ll be nervy for two reasons. Firstly, the Whites are now four games without a win in the Championship which, when you’re going for Premier League promotion, isn’t an ideal run of form, even in September.
And secondly, if a certain West Brom player happens to inspire Slaven Bilic’s side to victory then it could make Leeds look bad – very bad, in fact.
Romaine Sawyers has been a big hit since moving to the West Midlands from Brentford this past summer. He has started – and finished – all nine Championship games for The Hawthorns club this season and looks likely to do so against tonight.
Interestingly, Leeds were linked with a move for the attacking midfielder at the same time [The Daily Record].
For whatever reason, Bielsa and Victor Orta never pulled the trigger and considering he was available for a bargain £2.5 million [The Scottish Sun], it just wouldn’t be a good look if Sawyers goes and turns United over tonight.
Bielsa and Orta weren’t spending much money during the summer, focusing mainly on loan players – Helder Costa and Jack Harrison etc.
But even for £2.5 million, that wouldn’t have broken the bank at Leeds and Sawyers could expose that transfer error in a big way tonight.
To make matters worse, Bielsa doesn’t really have that penetrative force from midfield. It was hoped that Mateusz Klich could be that player, but he isn’t having a fantastic season so far.
Leeds fans wanted Sawyers at the time and it seems like he would still add something to this United side. Hopefully for their sake, he doesn’t prove it this evening.
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