Leeds United have radically transformed their Premier League season.
At one point, with Daniel Farke at the helm, the Whites appeared to be seen as nervous relegation fodder, with five dreadful defeats in October and November greatly troubling their position at Elland Road.
Today, the West Yorkshire side are mired in a four-game unbeaten run, with wins over Chelsea and Crystal Palace seeing Farke’s men score a confident seven goals. Subsequently, Los Blancos have now opened a six-point gap between themselves and 18th place in the tough division, as Leeds continue to look up rather than down.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin continues to establish himself as an absolute gem of a summer signing, with the former free agent striker now with seven goals for the Premier League season, following another lethal performance against the stunned Eagles.
Why Calvert-Lewin is important for Leeds
Match of the Day pundit Joe Hart even suggested that the former Everton shot-stopper would be a “great option” for Thomas Tuchel in the England set-up, and that’s not the craziest cry from the former Three Lions keeper.
Indeed, the 11-time England international appears to be reborn in Farke’s line-up at the moment, with six goals scored in his last five games, making him a vital figure as Leeds continue to climb the table.
Constantly finding himself in the perfect space possible to fire home chances, the 28-year-old looks like an incredible masterstroke of signing, with £0 spent on transfer fees, for a striker who had a solid 57 Premier League strikes beside his name, before leaving the Toffees behind.
Of course, the concern will be whether he faces an extended period of absence due to injury, but for now, he will be considered one of the best bargains in the entire division.
He’s not the only sublime bargain Leeds have managed to acquire this summer, however, with an Ao Tanaka-style deal flying under the radar at the moment, while Calvert-Lewin steals the show.
The star who is one of Leeds’ best deals since Tanaka
It will be difficult to top the free transfer signing of the Sheffield-born goal machine, but he commands a hefty £100,000-a-week salary, meaning he costs the West Yorkshire outfit a pretty penny in terms of salary costs alone.
In contrast, Gabriel Gudmundsson takes home just a measly £40,000-a-week salary, although he is also proving to be a “crucial” presence – according to Farke – in the first team this season, as is his aforementioned Japanese teammate.
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Gudmundsson’s PL numbers for Leeds |
|
|---|---|
|
Statistical |
Gudmundsson |
|
Games played |
17 |
|
The games have started |
16 |
|
Goals scored |
0 |
|
Aids |
0 |
|
Keys |
56.4 |
|
Precise passes |
24.4 (78%) |
|
Big chances created |
2 |
|
Ball recoveries |
3.6 |
|
Total duels won |
5.7 |
|
Statistics by Sofascore |
|
Ao Tanaka himself only earns a salary of £25,000 a week. Yet with two goals already this Premier League season in just seven starts, it’s clear that the former Fortuna Dusseldorf player is another bargain struck by the high-profile new arrivals, having cost just £3.5million to bring in last summer.
Also looking at the table above, the £10 million spent on Gudmundsson’s services also appears to be a considerable sum to spend on a star who is now Leeds’ guaranteed starter at left-back, with the energetic Swede winning a record 5.7 duels on average this season as a fighter for his modest side’s cause.
It was a risky move for Leeds to drop this amount of money on an unproven Premier League talent, with Gudmundsson only exposed to major top-flight action in the Eredivisie and League One.
But he has made this transition effortless – much like Tanaka instantly getting up to speed in the Championship and Premier League – with Gudmundsson even being hailed as Leeds’ “best player” by The Athletic’s Beren Cross in September, which is an assessment that has only strengthened, having won a total of 17 duels against Chelsea and Palace to lead Farke’s men to two memorable victories.
Leeds’ shrewd transfer activity is really paying off now, with Farke hoping his side can continue to pick up wins, knowing they have fan favorite Gudmundsson in defense but also a reinvigorated Calvert-Lewin up front.
56 touches, 5 key passes: 8/10 Leeds star was better than Calvert-Lewin
This Leeds United star was even better than Dominic Calvert-Lewin against Crystal Palace as Daniel Farke’s men claimed a huge 4-1 victory.
