Back in August, Leeds announced the £13 million capture of Germany international Robin Koch from SC Freiburg.
With international experience under his belt and plenty of time on his side at just 24 years of age, the centre-back had a big decision to make for the sake of his future when leaving SC Freiburg.
On the basis of his embryonic Leeds career, it seems safe to say he made the correct call for one reason.
If we were to be atypical, newly-promoted sides should not usually arrive in the Premier League and dominate possession.
Given the fact they’ve just been promoted from a lower division, such sides will usually find themselves bombarded with constant attacks from the opposition.
However, in Leeds’ case, they have not suffered such a fate, which has been beneficial to Koch’s settling-in period.
WhoScored shows that Marcelo Bielsa’s side amazingly sit fourth in the Premier League’s possession charts, averaging 54.8% of the ball behind only Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham.
Why is this relevant, you might ask? Well, in having such a stranglehold over the ball, Leeds have allowed Koch time to ease himself into life in England’s top-flight at his own pace.
Leeds also average the joint-third most shots per game, with 14.2 efforts per 90 minutes.
This type of dominance allows their £13 million man to study the game and acclimatise on the job, rather than find himself stretched, dribbled past and ran ragged by England’s best clubs, potentially denting his confidence.
That isn’t to say things haven’t been shaky at times. The German gave away a penalty on his debut at Anfield after the ball hit his arm, and gifted another spot-kick to Fulham in the next Premier League outing.
However, he has largely been solid, helping Bielsa’s side sit sixth, just three points off Everton who are top.
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