Leeds United’s up-and-down March continued at Queens Park Rangers at the weekend as Daniel Farke’s promotion-hungry Whites had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Loftus Road.
When Leeds found themselves 2-0 down after half an hour, a draw come full-time would have been more than a welcome final scoreline, but Sheffield United are now level on points with the West Yorkshire side at the very top of the Championship due to this slight misfire.
Farke will just hope he can get more out of his star players between now and the close of the campaign, with a number of his vital first-team personnel suffering from a poor day at the office against Marti Cifuentes’ Hoops.
Why Leeds struggled against QPR
Whilst the likes of Ao Tanaka, Junior Firpo and Jayden Bogle stood out and impressed once more – with the full-back duo having a say in both goals – there were also a whole host of faces that struggled to get going versus QPR.
Indeed, Brenden Aaronson fell victim to yet another quiet showing, as the American attacking midfielder failed to register a single shot on the Hoops net while registering a timid 26 touches of the ball.
Away from Aaronson, Joel Piroe also put in a lacklustre performance in front of goal, with the ex-Swansea City striker unable to fire a single on-target effort on Paul Nardi’s busy net.
Piroe, who is the division’s second-top scorer with 15 goals, he is in a lean patch of form now having gone goalless across his last four matches. It’s not what you need at all heading into the campaign’s final few months.
Thankfully, these limp performances up top didn’t result in a defeat being tallied up next to Leeds’ name, but to gift Farke and Co even more firepower ahead of some crunch games, the German must be considering starting one of his most explosive talents.
£50m-rated star can help Leeds improve in the final third
There might well be some regret on Leeds’ end that they didn’t go all out and strengthen in January, particularly with some performances recently looking somewhat fatigued.
Regardless, there is an abundance of exceptional talent for Farke to pick from when everything is ticking along smoothly, with Wilfried Gnonto turning into an impact substitute now in Championship action.
The “electric” forward – as he was labelled by football statistician Statman Dave – has only started 20 of his side’s 35 second-tier games this campaign, but has still managed to register a sterling total of five goals and five assists.
While he perhaps hasn’t been at his free-flowing best this term, Gnonto offered Leeds a lot more than Aaronson in the forward areas at Loftus Road, with the £3.8m buy gifting the promotion chasers a livewire presence that helped Farke’s men to push on to clinch a share of the spoils.
After coming on, the Italian missed one big chance and won three duels from his memorable second-half cameo.
Games played
110
Goals scored
18
Assists
12
Original fee
£3.8m
Value now
£50m
Value increase %
1215%
Proving himself to be a Premier League calibre performer in West Yorkshire too, with six of his Leeds goal contributions coming in the elite division, it’s fair to say that even if he’s not starting week in week out at the moment, Leeds struck gold when signing the diminutive attacker for that mere £3.8m fee, considering his valuation now stands at an eye-watering £50m according to reports.
That is an increase of 1215%, with the potential for Leeds to gain more for Gnonto than they managed when selling the likes of Archie Gray for £30m and Kalvin Phillips for £45m, further reinforcing the shrewdness of the original deal.
Before the 21-year-old considers parting ways, however, he will hope more goals and assists come his way as Leeds desperately attempt to return to the Premier League away from any wobbles in confidence seeping in.
In short, he now simply has to start games over Aaronson if Leeds are serious about securing promotion.
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