Leeds United are reportedly not planning to target a new striker on a free transfer following Patrick Bamford’s injury.
Bamford had to be taken off during the Whites’ latest under-23 clash during the international break, and the Yorkshire Evening Post reports that he will now be out until 2019, leaving Leeds facing a serious issue up front.
Kemar Roofe has done superbly at the start of this season, and Leeds looked an incredibly dangerous prospect with Bamford able to come off the bench. But without the £7 million signing, Bielsa has been left with a problem.
It is probably not a huge surprise that Bielsa is not planning to make a signing. The Leeds boss has shown with his summer business that he would rather work with a smaller squad, and perhaps he feels that a new signing would become completely unnecessary once Bamford is back playing.
It will come as no surprise either that the likes of Roberts and Edmondson are in the running to replace Bamford. Roberts appears to be the obvious candidate given that he played a fairly prominent role in pre-season and has featured in Bielsa’s matchday squads.
Edmondson meanwhile, appears to be a huge talent who many of the Elland Road faithful will one day be expecting to establish himself as the main man up front for the Whites.
Clarke is perhaps a slightly more interesting option. The Leeds fans have wanted to see Clarke handed his first-team chance for a long time now, but his best performances for the under-23s have come out on the wing and it is difficult to imagine that Bielsa will not deploy him there and consider a reshuffle that perhaps sees the versatile Gjanni Alioski lead the line if required.
Bamford’s injury is a big loss for Leeds, but perhaps the fans should take encouragement from the fact that Bielsa does not feel that there is any reason for panic at a time when the pressure is starting to attach itself to the Whites after their start to the campaign.
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