Leif Davis made an error during Leeds United’s latest pre-season friendly.
It is little surprise that the Leeds fans’ calls for a new defender to be signed this summer are now threatening to become too loud for the decision-makers at Elland Road to ignore.
The surprising call to sell Pontus Jansson to Brentford looks like a risk. And while loanee Ben White has impressed in both of the pre-season friendlies he has played in, he goes into this season having not yet played at a level higher than League One.
It does look a gamble to go into next term with White, Liam Cooper and Gaetano Berardi looking set to shoulder the majority of the burden at the heart of the defence.
But that may be why Leif Davis’ mistake during the club’s latest pre-season friendly may have actually been exactly what those concerned fans needed to see.
A 5-1 win away at Tadcaster is unlikely to tempt Marcelo Bielsa into making any rash decisions. But the home side’s goal highlighted how much of a gamble it could be to use Davis as cover for the three first-choice centre-backs next season.
Davis clearly has incredibly bright future ahead of him, and appears to have the potential to be a real star in the Leeds side in the coming years. But he is still developing his game, and perhaps has a tougher task than most having initially made his name as a left-back.
Next season may be too soon for the 19-year-old to be considered one of Bielsa’s backup centre-back options – especially when you consider how many injury problems Leeds dealt with last term – so perhaps that small mistake could tempt United to make a small change to their transfer plans.
Signing a new centre-back that immediately strengthens the first-team is not going to be easy. But after coming so close to promotion last term with Jansson enjoying his best year at Leeds, it seems to be a much bigger risk for Leeds to let the window close without making another signing.
And perhaps Davis’ minor error could be the moment that really proved that point.
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