The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Wednesday 13th January)

Good Morning. It's Wednesday 13th January, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road

Wigan youngster on Leeds shopping list

Sun Sports journalist Alan Nixon is claiming that Leeds have had a second bid turned down for Superkid Sean McGurk.

The Wigan attacker, who is out of contract in the Summer has a host of admirers, both up and down the Country, hence the Lancashire club is looking for more money.

Leeds originally bid for the youngster in the Summer, just after signing team mate Joe Gelhardt. Unfortunately, the offer was turned town. It is understood that the Whites have upped their offer, but it is still rated too low by officials and the club administrators.

Steven Gerrard knows McGurk from his time at the Liverpool academy when the Rangers boss was in charge and the player was a young hopeful.

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Does Rodrigo offer enough to justify both his place and his price tag

Spanish International forward Rodrigo was probably the surprise signing not just from the Summer, but possibly from the last decade. The versatile number 9 who turns 30 in March has netted three times for the Whites, in 17 appearances. Reliable stats account 'Whoscored' give Rodrigo an average rating of 6.62.

The only players below him are:

Alioski 6.61
Struijk 6.59
Costa 6.46
Hernandez 6.32
Shackleton 6.27
Poveda 6.23
Roberts 6.09
Leif 6.02

Eleven players all rank well above the former Valencia player :

Bamford 7.15
Phillips 7.06
Cooper 7.01
Harrison 6.97
Ayling 6.96
Dallas 6.89
Llorente 6.89
Meslier 6.84
Raphinha 6.83
Klich 6.76
Koch 6.65

As we approach the half way point of the season, does anyone have any regrets over our record signing? In hindsight would you have bought one of the Brentford three? Ollie Watlikns has hit the ground running with Villa. The 25 yo has netted five times, three assists, but more importantly has a rating of 7.28.

Things have not gone so well for Benrahma. The 26m signing has two assists to his name, and only three starts this season. Unsurprisingly, he has a rating of just 6.41 for the Hammers!

In hindsight, would you have still bought Rodrigo? Will things get better for him? If a club offered 25m for him, would you accept it?

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Good morning,

Too early to say on Rodrigo,I'd agree with the stats that he's a little below average at the moment but many of the others have played under Bielsa and in the English league for longer. For the price we paid I expect him to be one of our stand out players by this time next season.

 

Yes there are Rodrigo haters about but I cannot understand why? He is playing as a 10 so his 3 goals is a pretty good return and remember he hasnt played all 17 matches, in fact he didnt start a match at all until a few weeks ago and then went down with Covid. So 3 goals into the number of minutes played is great. He is an upgrade on Pablo and was the only stand-out player on Sunday who looked like scoring, but was taken off at in that half time screw up. He is quality and we aint seen the best of him yet.

Wigan have serious financial problems and we will get McGurk. We tried in the Summer and we have tried again and he knows his mate is already at Leeds and thriving. We paid Wigan a record fee for Gelhardt with add-ons and I expect us to do the same for this kid. He is out of contract in the Summer and can walk if he wants as he isnt old enough to sign a pro contract yet until later this year. He will be at ER nailed on.

Seems like Roberts is on his bike one way or the other and Sam Greenwood is being lined up to replace him. Greenwood who is an out an out striker has been played in the No10 role for the last 4 U23 games and Joffy who was playing 10 moved to 9, so we have 2 kids who can score goals from either position as well as be creative. Lets face it Roberts has been dire. Greenwood is the older player and looks ready to step up.

 

Morning all,

I like Rodrigo and there is definitely a good player there so patience is needed. However, I have highlighted before one issue I think there is with him. I do not believe him and Bamford can play at the same time in the system we use.

When Rodrigo plays behind Bamford Leeds can seem to overplay a little. Too many times we get the ball into a position to put the ball into the box for Bamford to get on the end of but instead pass it across the edge of the area looking for Rodrigo. This may be the instruction to the players but I feel it is limiting Bamfords chances.

I don't know for sure but I would hazard a guess that if you were to look back the majority of goals Bamford has scored have come when Rodrigo was not on the pitch with him.

A problem for Bielsa.

 

Came off the bench 6 times I believe

 

Think Rodrigo must be taking a turn in the usual lets pick on a player week. Looking at the important stats he has an XG of 3 and guess what he has scored 3. His pass completion rate is 79%. We need to try and forget that hes a striker, because Bielsa bought him as a midfielder who can play out wide or up front. He scored 38 goals for Valencia from out wide and No10 over a couple of seasons, but the media touted him as a striker when we bought him. I even thought we had bought a striker, but because of where he can play we have a gem on our hands.

The last time he played as an out and out striker he was at Benfica where he played 47 games scoring 27 which is excellent

 

I rate Rodrigo. Looks like an intelligent player with good movement and can pick a pass. As Doc said he’s an improvement on Hernandez and that’s exactly what we were after. A goal scoring midfielder that can assist.

Have we seen the best of him yet? I don’t think so. I think he’s still getting to know his role in the team and definitely needs some more work on his defensive duties but he’s scored 3 goals already and creates problems so I think he’s only going to get better while we’re building.

If we’d have bought someone else instead of him it would have been a midfielder and not a striker because striker isn’t the problem at the moment. Watkins would be kept on the bench with Bamford’s form and we’d then have a problem with who to play alongside Klich in the middle. Rodrigo can be a Bamford replacement if injured but also is capable in the middle and I’d rather Rodrigo in the middle than Benrahma.

 

Rodrigo can clearly play - as an individual I like him... whether we can accommodate him in our system is still up for debate. Maybe it’s part him Learning and part mb finding the right role. My issue with him and Raphinha is decision making when receiving the ball in our half. Neither consistently knows when to play simple ball and when to try something. Hopefully that comes with time.

Unlike with Raphinha, due to his age Rodrigo was always a signing for now, not the future. There’s no real resale value to him, he was bought to secure our place in the premier league, allied to the price tag that ups the expectation on him.

 

A great point made here. If we had bought a top striker like harry Kane, he would have been sat on the bench except for about 32 minutes. So we could have soent £100m to do nothing but wait. Bielsa is different as we well know

 

Phillips, Rodrigo and Raphinha are clearly our most talented three players.

 

Raph and Rod have been a bit hit and miss, both have exceptional talent. Not many come in from abroad and hit the ground running, normallytakes a season, look at Havertz for example and what did he cost, Van de Beek the same. I'm confident that next season that we will see great things from not only those 2 but Koch and Llorente too. One reason we should be trying to get a couple of quality players in now, not necessarily for this season but come next August, they'll be pretty much up to speed.

 

Evening all....

After the two cup defeats this season I can’t get excited about any “hot prospect” we’re about to sign. Throw in how we smashed the U23s two seasons back and released virtually the entire starting 11 it’s just not of interest to me until one of them is good enough for a starting place.

Rodrigo I echo what most others have said, there is something in there that is special. In regards to the price tag and value for money, we’ve been out the top flight for so long that £28m is an amount for a decent player but not one who would set the world alight.

Imagine what price Viduka, Speed, JFH, Radebe and Bowyer would be in today’s market. We can’t compare Rodrigos price tag with our previous big name signings. He’s also got to get a season under his belt with a new club, coach, playing style and country.

Is Rodrigo worth double what Costa is to us? I’d say yes.

 

Rodrigonis no good in bamfords role. He is a piss poir striker who is weak with his head and his goal scoring is pathetic. Howcis he a striker?

 

We have only seen Rodrigo in Bamford’s position twice I think? Both in the cup with youngsters getting no service so I don’t agree that he’s piss poor in that position, we don’t really have the evidence to back that up and he’s barely played as a striker for many teams bar Spain.

I haven’t said he’s a striker but I’ve said he can play as a striker if Bamford were to get injured, he's there if we need it and why I believe he’s been a good signing compared to what we could’ve got.

 

Person of inferior race, I don’t believe you meant that surely

 

Southampton game postponed, apparently

 

If Rodrigo had scored 10 in 15 say, people would have been purring at the price we paid, it's today's market price that is up in the air players vastly overpriced.
Take joelinton for the barcodes has he been a baller for the 40 mill price tag and you can add plenty more to a list, for a current Spanish international I think we have got a decent player.....Barca where in for him at one point, not a bad indication in my opinion

 

Sky Sports is reporting that Derby's chief executive Stephen Pearce today told the first-team squad the club cannot currently afford to pay the players their outstanding wages from December, but they are working to address the problem

 

W

what the hell are you on about... Who. Mentioned race. Do not tar me mr that is not funny.

 

tuppence ain't quite the full shilling