As the season goes on, and as the threat of Manor Solomon becomes increasingly apparent, the Leeds United winger can probably expect a few more afternoons like Monday’s at Burnley.
Norwich City gave Solomon all the space he needed to score one and set up the other during a comfortable 2-0 home win four days earlier.
But, as Leeds United and Burnley played out a stalemate so dull it could be prescribed as a cure for insomnia, pretty much every time Manor Solomon picked up possession on the left-hand side, he found himself eyeball-to-eyeball with one, two and occasionally three claret-and-blue clad defenders.
The understanding, or a lack thereof, with Sam Byram certainly didn’t aid the Tottenham Hotspur loanee in his attempts to pick the Burnley padlock.
Byram has excelled under Daniel Farke this season, unbeaten in his last 22 matches. But he is not a natural left-footer, and struggled to provide the sort of overlapping runs that would maybe have opened up the space Solomon needed to do what he does best at Turf Moor.
Now, as Leeds weigh up a move for Newcastle’s Matt Targett before next week’s transfer deadline, the oh-so effective partnership he enjoyed with Jack Grealish during their time together at Aston Villa should offer an intriguing indication as to what the £15 million left-back would bring to Elland Road.
Matt Targett can shine alongside Manor Solomon at Leeds United
Football correspondent Graeme Bailey believes Leeds United have liked Targett for quite a while. A deal could be done ‘pretty quickly’ too after the 29-year-old slipped behind Lewis Hall in Newcastle’s pecking order.
Targett’s arrival would likely spell the end for Junior Firpo, too, a return to Real Betis on the cards with his contract expiring in July.
Now, Targett has started only seven Premier League matches since joining Newcastle two years ago. Leeds would be getting themselves a hugely experienced player, but one maybe short on match fitness.
It was with his previous employers, meanwhile, where the one-time Fulham, Southampton and England Under-21 ace played the best football of his career.
And though Targett may have often been overlooked in favour of Tyrone Mings, John McGinn and former Aston Villa talisman Jack Grealish in the eyes of the media, his importance would never be underestimated in the dressing room.
His Aston Villa teammates voted Targett the club’s Players’ Player of the Year in 2021, after all.
Targett can certainly be credited with playing a major role in Grealish’s emergence as one of the posterboys of the Premier League, not to mention his eventual £100 million switch to Manchester City.
The fact that Grealish had the room and the time to drift in off the left-hand flank and play those trademark through balls owed much to the dynamic, off-the-ball running of his seemingly three-lunged partner on the wing.
“Most teams double-up on Jack, sometimes even triple-up on him, he’s that good,” Targett would explain at the time. “Jack’s natural game is to come inside to get on to his right foot, and if that drags the right-back or right-sided centre-half over then great, because it gives me loads of space to exploit.
“Similarly, if I’m constantly overlapping, it’s likely to drag at least one defender away from Jack. And if not, then Jack’s playing me in. Either way, one of us benefits.”
Take Villa’s 2-1 victory over Brighton and Hove Albion five years ago, for instance. Grealish pulls wide to the left-hand side, Targett makes an underlapping run this time.
And, found by Grealish’s clever pass, the full-back lashes home a thumping late winner.
Solomon can still reach another level at Daniel Farke’s Leeds
There are certainly similarities between Manor Solomon and Jack Grealish. Not just because of their styles on the pitch – elegant, ethereal dribblers who glide between the lines from the left-hand side – but because of the positions they take up.
If Targett can emulate the telepathic understanding he enjoyed with Grealish at Villa Park, then the more well-drilled Championship backlines would surely find it far harder than Burnley did.
Keeping Solomon on the periphery is difficult enough, let alone when you have a buccaneering full-back racing up in support and dragging his markers out of position.
“Targett’s blossoming partnership with Jack Grealish has become a key feature of Villa’s play,” Adrian Clarke wrote for the official Premier League website back in 2020. “Both are comfortable on the ball and have made a habit of dominating opponents down the left side of the pitch.
“Grealish’s inclination to drift inside suits Targett, who usually stays near the touchline to offer width.
“The Villa captain has been one of the stars of the season but it is in part down to Targett that he has been able to excel. The playmaker could not wish for better service from the full-back behind him.”
If Manor Solomon is to reach a whole new level at Elland Road – one Israeli reporter feels that Leeds United are still yet to see the best of him – then Matt Targett could potentially be the key to unlocking the full potential of another left-winger singled out for special attention by rival defences.
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