There was almost a prime Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son feel about the goal which put Leeds United 2-0 up in their promotion party at home to Bristol City on Monday night.
Joel Piroe took on the Kane role, dropping deep, spinning away from a Bristol City marker and curving a delightful pass to set his winger away. Willy Gnonto, racing onto a fabulous through ball like Son did so often alongside Kane at Tottenham Hotspur, converted clinically and classily.
There was to be no repeat of last week’s four-goal haul – Piroe became the first Leeds player to score four times in one half of football – but there was another assist to add to the Dutchman’s impressive tally.
No one has more goals in the Championship than Leeds United’s number ten. He also sits comfortably at the top of the chart with ‘goal contributions’.
Yet, Piroe still hopes to break the 20-goal barrier before the curtain falls. He has just one more chance to do that, against already-relegated Plymouth Argyle on next week’s final day.
“I’ve said from the start that I want to score 20 goals this season. I can see that I’m now one step closer to reaching that personal goal,” Piroe said a few days ago, after promotion was secured.
“If I can also take the Golden Boot with me at that moment, I’ll be more than happy to take it. That’s ultimately what you do it for. The team prizes are fantastic but, if you can also take an individual prize, that’s a bonus.”
Vladyslav Vanat beats Leeds United Joel Piroe to 20-goal target
While Piroe has just 90 minutes left to achieve his own personal ambitions, a striker he could find himself competing with at Elland Road next season has 20 to his name already, with four league matches to spare.
TBR Football reports that Leeds have joined West Ham, Fulham and Brentford in checking out Dynamo Kyiv and Ukraine striker Vladyslav Vanat. And if he can emulate the success of the most recent Golden Boot winning striker to leave the Ukrainian Premier League for one of Europe’s top divisions, then Leeds could have quite a centre-forward on their hands.
Artem Dovbyk swapped Dnipro for Girona in 2023, after all, secured the top scorer crown in Spain too before sealing a mega-money switch to Roma.
Whether Vanat is capable of the same sky-high levels of success, only time will tell.
His 20th of the campaign – and his 16th in 24 top-flight matches – was impressively taken. A fearsome leap and a powerful header, with a hard-earned 2-2 draw against Shakhtar Donetsk ensuring the gap between the two title rivals stands at just two points with four games left.
Is Leeds-linked Vanat the ‘new Andriy Shevchenko’?
That was also Vanat’s 50th senior league goal. One which looks certain to secure him a second successive Golden Boot. Whether he can go on to reach the same heights as the legendary Andriy Shevchenko – let alone Dovbyk – remains to be seen.
Ukrainian publication Sport UA are not the first to suggest Vanat might be the ‘new Shevchenko’; The AC Milan icon who won the Ballon D’Or as well as the Champions League in a sensational playing career.
“Vanat has high quality. He improves every year,” reporter Igor Tsyganyk says on his YouTube channel, labelling the 23-year-old a ‘classic striker’. “It is noticeable that he is improving.
“Look at the goal he scored against Kryvbas. He received the ball, moved it onto his comfortable left foot and, without looking, shot into the far corner.
“If you remember last year or even the year before, there was a lot of unnecessary fuss [in Vanat’s game]. Now, this footballer is becoming a step higher. It is visible.”
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