Leeds need a playmaker badly this month, if they are to maintain a promotion push.
Leeds United desperately need to bring in a number 10 this month after losing Samu Saiz and Lewis Baker, and a free agent currently training with the club’s bitterest of rivals may just prove perfect.
Saiz surprisingly left Leeds to return to his home country on a loan-to-buy deal with La Liga side Getafe, where he is expected to confirm a permanent move in the summer. Lewis Baker saw his loan from Chelsea cancelled.
The ex-England Under-21 star had struggled at Elland Road, turning out for the Under-23’s more so than the first team. Indeed, he is now joined Reading temporarily until the end of the campaign.
It leaves just Pablo Hernandez – who started the season as a winger – Adam Forshaw and Mateusz Klich as options in the middle of Bielsa’s second back of four. Tyler Roberts has been drafted in to play there as cover.
The Whites need a player in that box-to-box role who can unlock a defence and score goals, but is also intelligent enough to play the way Bielsa wants his promotion-chasing side to play.
Giuseppe Rossi could well be the answer. The pocket-sized assassin is only 31 years of age, and is currently training with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United in a bid to remain fit – he has been a free agent since the summer.
Indeed, the America-born Italian was released by Genoa in the summer after only nine league appearances during the 2017-18 campaign. Serious knee injuries have niggled at the 30-time Italy international, but now he is fit.
Leeds boast a number of young stars who are in need of a tutor, and Rossi could also play a crucial role off the pitch in helping the likes of Roberts, Jack Clarke and Jamie Shackleton improve.
On a free transfer, Rossi could be crucial in providing cover in attacking midfield and pushing the Whites into the Premier League for the first time since their relegation 15 years ago.
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