Leeds United could have brought in the ideal attacker but instead spent their money elsewhere.
Leeds United’s substitutes bench for the recent clash against Derby County spoke volumes, with Jay-Roy Grot and Hadi Sacko called upon when the Whites needed far more quality to guarantee a late win.
Instead the Rams netted twice in the last 18 minutes to inflict yet another defeat on a Leeds side some fear is in free fall, and one wonders why the club did not act a little smarter in the summer transfer window.
After all, instead of signing Pawel Cibicki and Grot only to barely use the former with the latter struggling to make a positive impact, Leeds could have spent just £1.8million to bring Ollie Watkins from Exeter City.
The 21-year-old has already scored seven goals in 17 matches for his new club Brentford and he would have been a brilliant asset both from the start and when Leeds needed late goals.
Instead, they spent around £1.5million on Grot (as reported by the Daily Express) and £1.45million on Cibicki (the Yorkshire Evening Post), just shy of £1.2million less than it would have taken to bring Watkins to Elland Road.
Leeds have suffered in the past from signing players from abroad only to watch them flop and one wonders if Grot and Cibicki are destined to follow the same path, especially as the latter has hardly been seen despite his hefty price tag.
Watkins could have been an instant hero at Leeds but director of football Victor Orta opted to look elsewhere and the Whites are suffering as a result.
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