Former Leeds United boss Neil Redfearn has offered his view on Neil Redfearn.
Pierre-Michel Lasogga
Former Leeds United boss Neil Redfearn has told Radio Yorkshire (11/10/2017), as transcribed by Inside Futbol, that he thinks striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga ‘runs out of juice’ after an hour.
The Whites were always going to pursue attacking reinforcements over the summer after the over-reliance on Chris Wood last season, and they ended the transfer window with four new attackers in their squad.
Caleb Ekuban, Jay-Roy Grot and Pawel Cibicki all arrived, and after Wood was sold to Burnley in a big-money deal, Leeds also swooped to land target man Lasogga on a season-long loan deal from Hamburg.
The 25-year-old’s career in Germany was patchy at best; 39 goals from the start of the 2010-11 season to the end of the 2012-13 campaign gave him a burgeoning reputation, but he scored just 15 goals across the next three seasons as he struggled to nail down a spot in the Hamburg side.
Now, Lasogga is attempting to make Elland Road his new home, and his early record of three goals in five Championship outings has already made him popular among Leeds fans.
The burly striker still has work to do though, and ultimately, his performances under Thomas Christiansen will dictate whether Leeds pursue a permanent deal when his loan move ends next summer.
Now, former Leeds boss Neil Redfearn has told Radio Yorkshire (11/10/2017) that he thinks that Lasogga is the import who seems most well-suited to playing in the Championship, due to his physical presence.
Whilst Redfearn admitted that he likes Lasogga, but his one criticism of the striker is that he needs to be fitter, as he appears to run out of energy after an hour, meaning Christiansen is having to manage his minutes.
“I quite like him,” said Redfearn. “He’s more like a domestic type of centre forward, or a player that’s played at domestic level in this country, than any of the other overseas signings. He’s big and he’s physical and he uses his physical presence.”
“If I was to give one criticism then it would be I think he could be fitter. He’ll give you a good hour, particularly at home, but after that he seems to run out of juice, but I do like him and he’s got a real deftness of touch for a big man. When it goes into him he’s got this ability to play balls into people that have made runs beyond him. I think he is a good signing to be fair,” he added.
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