Bayer Leverkusen have placed Joel Pohjanpalo on the transfer list and this could be music to the ears of a Leeds United side scouring the market for a striker.
Cast your minds back to the January transfer window, when Leeds were ‘falling apart again’ and Premier League football at Elland Road was still a distant dream.
At the time, the West Yorkshire giants made a new number nine their top priority after drawing blanks in defeats to Sheffield Wednesday and QPR.
And they appeared to have narrowed down their search to two, stand-out candidates.
But, while Jean-Kevin Augustin’s Elland Road career was over after just 49 goalless minutes, Leeds’ one-that-got-away would spend the next five months hitting the net at a remarkable rate on loan at Hamburg.
Seven months ago, Augustin looked like a statement signing, a one-time PSG and Leizpzig star with a point to prove. Flash forward to the present day, however, and he has been comfortably outshine by the other man on Leeds’ hit list.
“Hamburg met the criteria I wanted. Another strong option was Leeds United,” Pohjanpalo told HS in June, admitting that he chose the German second tier over its English equivalent.
There have never been any doubts about the Finland international’s finishing skills.
During that breakthrough season at Leverkusen in 2016/17, Pohjanpalo exploded onto the scene with the most clinical of hat-tricks in just his second appearance for the Bundesliga giants.
And, after putting those long-standing injury issues behind him, the Helsinki-born poacher set about reminding everyone why he was once seen as the future of Leverkusen’s forward nine – even if his nine goals in 14 games was not enough to fire Hamburg back into the big time.
Now with Leverkusen deciding to cash in, realising that they cannot guarantee Pohjanpalo the first-team football he craves, Leeds could do a lot worse than to re-ignite their interest in a man who averages a goal every 75 minutes in German football (Kicker).
Chances will be at a premium in the Premier League.
A wonderful yet wasteful Leeds side need a ruthless finisher and Pohjanpalo is as dead-eyed as they come.
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