An FA Cup defeat isn’t the end of the world for Leeds United but it may give the club some slight cause for transfer window regret.
Leeds United crashed out of the FA Cup on Saturday as they lost 2-0 to Millwall at Elland Road, with some awful defending helping Femi Azeez score a brace.
Daniel Farke made 10 changes to his starting XI so a disjointed performance wasn’t surprising but the complete lack of quality from his second string was.
There was a terrible performance from Josuha Guilavogui but even more disappointing was Mateo Joseph, who once again failed to seize his chance when given a starting place.
The striker offered little presence leading the line and on the rare occasions he actually got on the ball he tended to misplace his passes.
It was an awful display that again highlights Leeds’ lack of depth beyond Joel Piroe upfront and why they attempted to sign a striker in January.
They might just regret failing to do so.
Leeds target Adam Armstrong scores on West Brom debut
While Leeds’ second string, which remains full of supposedly quality players, failed to score against Millwall, Adam Armstrong scored on his debut for West Brom.
Armstrong had been reported as a Leeds transfer target on deadline day as the club tried to recruit a striker at the end of the January transfer window.
However, his Southampton teammate Cameron Archer was the top target and by the time it became clear that move wasn’t happening, Armstrong was heading to the Midlands.
In his first game for the Baggies against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, Armstrong scored the opening goal in a 2-1 win.
Farke was sanguine about Leeds’ lack of transfer activity last week, arguing that there was little need for his team to sign a player for the sake of it given they sit top of the table.
While he has a point as the strongest XI doesn’t need improving at the moment, it’s clear an additional option up front would have been very handy given Joseph is yet to impress from the start and Patrick Bamford has injury issues.
If Piroe was to get injured – like he might have just done – Leeds could be in trouble, especially after title rivals Burnley and Sheffield United strengthened considerably.
Should Leeds have accepted £10m for Mateo Joseph?
Another story to break on transfer deadline day is that Leeds had rejected a £10m bid from Real Betis for Joseph in the window amid interest from several Spanish clubs in the forward.
While he is still young and has shown potential, that’s a massive amount of money for a striker who has just three goals to his name in 32 appearances this season.
Granted, most of those games are off the bench but he has rarely performed when given opportunities from the first minute.
A £10m sum could have easily seen Leeds replace Joseph with a more experienced and clinical striker and probably left a good chunk over to invest in the summer.
Not taking the offer might be another January transfer decision the club comes to regret.
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