Leeds United reportedly want to take Ben Gibson from Burnley and he would surely walk into Marcelo Bielsa’s starting XI.
There is no room for sentimentality at a club with promotion in their sights.
And if Leeds United are to finally, after 16 long years, bring an end to their Premier League exile, they simply cannot afford a repeat of those defensive blunders which cost them in the final weeks of the 2018/19 campaign. Yes, we are looking at you, Liam Cooper.
Cooper may be Leeds’ inspirational captain but that is not to say he should be immune to any criticism. Far too often last season he was found wanting in crucial encounters.
He was an accident waiting to happen in that 1-0 home defeat to Sheffield United which saw Leeds give up their automatic promotion place and slip down to third.
And it was Cooper who deserves most of the blame for that horrifying 4-2 collapse against Derby County in the second leg of the play-off semi-final.
But with the Northern Echo claiming that Leeds are interested in £15 million Burnley defender Ben Gibson, you have to wonder what this means for Marcelo Bielsa’s skipper.
Like Cooper, Gibson is a no-nonsense centre-back who leads from the front. He was the captain of Middlesbrough for a number of seasons after all, even during their short-lived spell in the Premier League a few years ago.
But crucially, he is far less prone to lapses in concentration or those Cooper-esque performances which start badly and rapidly descend into a personal nightmare.
Gibson alongside a more ball-playing centre-half like Brighton loanee Ben White could provide the platform for success at Elland Road. Big decisions need to be made at Leeds and replacing Cooper is the sort of ruthless call which could be the difference between success and yet another agonising failure.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
