Charlison Benschop has hardly set the Bundesliga alight for Hannover, but that has not stopped Leeds United considering a move to bring him to Elland Road.
Victor Orta may have struck the deals to bring Samu Saiz and Ezgjan Alioski to Elland Road this summer, but some of the signings made by Leeds United under their Director of Football can be filed under ‘questionable’.
The warning signs were there over error-prone goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald, who conceded 13 in his final three league games for Werder Bremen last season. Strikers Caleb Ekuban, Pawel Cibicki and Jay-Roy Grot have not scored a league goal between them, while the less said about Mateusz Klich the better.
And it seems that the latest unknown import linked with a shock switch to Leeds looks like one of Orta’s more, let us say, dubious deals.
According to Voetbal Primeur, the Championship giants are interested in signing striker Charlison Benschop from Bundesliga side Hannover, with his contract due to expire at the end of the season. Now, Benschop is a versatile attacker capable of playing out wide, as a number ten or in the centre-forward position.
He is a former Dutch youth international and he also scored against Bayern Munich this season.
Tellingly, however, that is his only goal this season. In fact, that is the only goal Benschop has scored in league football for Hannover since joining the club from Fortuna Dusseldorf – where he boasted a far superior scoring record – in the summer of 2015.
Considering that Cibicki, Grot and Ekuban have not really settled, and Pierre-Michel Lasogga has hardly proved to be the ideal Chris Wood replacement, the doubts around Orta’s dealings will not exactly be spirited away by the potential addition of a striker with one goal in two-and-a-half years.
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