The 2016-17 season in the Sky Bet Championship might have ended in a frustrating manner for Leeds United to infuriate the fans owing to their failure to earn a playoff spot after being given a lot of hope until the business end of the campaign, but it shouldn’t be deemed as an unproductive one.
They excelled tremendously at times, pulled the right strings and derived the best results on many occasions, but somehow withered away during the concluding stages. The Whites, however, under the guardianship of Garry Monk, did carve an upward trajectory and moved away from the doldrums and showed that they could well be a threatening force in times to come.
At the same time, it was also perceived that adequate injection of funds for acquiring the services of quality players over the course of the summer transfer window would also hold paramount importance and particularly, it is their attacking arsenal which needs to be beefed up.
More often than not, we witnessed Chris Wood, who was the standout performer of the season for the West Yorkshire based club, almost singlehandedly catering to the goal scoring needs of the club and frankly speaking, the pressure did pile up on the shoulders of the New Zealand International.
The likes of Marcus Antonsson, Kemar Roofe and Pablo Hernandez struggled to bury their chances and considering the fact that the Peacocks do not possess the strongest of financial muscles, it would be crucial for them to chalk out shrewd moves. In the process, one of the players they could possibly target is Celtic’s striker Leigh Griffiths.
Owing to the intriguing rise of Moussa Dembele as the first-choice striker, Griffith was used sporadically by Rodgers in their domestic treble winning season. Despite that, the 26-year-old hitman bagged 12 goals in 23 appearances (eight of which were cameos from the bench) and must be keen for new adventures at a new club where he would be handed a place in the starting line-up on a regular basis.
Griffiths is a fine poacher with a keen knack to score goals and also create plenty of chances for his teammates. He has the necessary pace, loves to test the opposition’s goalkeeper from the distance and gels really well with the midfielders in the final third. Besides, he has plenty of experience under his belt, having plied his trade for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Hibernian, Dundee and Livingston in the past and he tasted decent success in all these clubs.
If Griffiths is actually signed by Leeds United, the club would not only lay their hands on a serial goal getter but with Wood already at their disposal, the duo could tee up to make the Whites one of the deadliest force in the Championship next season.
Statistics Credits: WhoScored.com
