Leeds United have been one of the busiest Championship sides in the ongoing transfer window and are looking to bolster their strike force with the addition of Chelsea academy product, Ike Ugbo.
All of 18 years old, the Nigerian has a prolific scoring record for Chelsea’s youth sides, having netted 60 goals for them already. Chelsea are interested in loaning the player out to a Championship side with the likes of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bristol City and Leeds interested. Chelsea feeder club Vitesse Arnhem are also looking into the possibility of securing the services of the talented forward.
Leeds have bought well in the summer and their spending spree looks set to continue having already unveiled the likes of Ergjan Alioski, a defender from FC Lugano; Samuel Saiz Alonso from Huesca; Vurnon Anita; Caleb Ekuban from Chievo; Mateusz Klich from FC Twente and Felix Wiedwald from Werder Bremen.
The Thomas Christiansen side boasts of 6 pure strikers at the last count and besides Samu Saiz and Ekuban bought in the ongoing window, Marcus Antonsson, Chris Wood, Souleymane Doukara, and Lee Erwin complete a rather top-heavy squad. If the idea of loaning out players is, so that they get more game time, loaning Ugbo to Leeds represents somewhat of a risk.
Assuming the 18-year-old has a breakthrough season; he would still have to compete for first team football against six other players in the same position. The Whites usually line up in a 4-2-3-1, meaning there would be 7 players competing for a solitary striker role, should the loan deal go through and Leeds keep hold of all of their strikers.
Tammy Abraham, whose footsteps the likes of Ugbo would ideally want to follow, played a whopping 48 games in all competitions for Bristol City last season, notching up 26 goals and 4 assists in the process and earning a loan move to Premier League side Swansea City.
If Ugbo wants to emulate Abraham’s feat and harbours the hope to represent Chelsea in the future, maybe the club and the player’s agent should consider the likes of Wolves or Bristol City in the Championship, where the player would have a better opportunity to showcase his abilities owing to more first team football opportunities.
Leeds United have in their ranks, last season’s Championship top-scorer Chris Wood, operating mostly as a lone striker, closely followed by Antonsson. New signings Ekuban and Samu Saiz would also be in contention to lead the lines.
Wolves, on the other hand, suffer from no such problem. Their striker duo of Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Nouha Dicko have scored a total of 6 goals between themselves, while top-scorer Helder Costa, operating on the wings is nursing an injury.
Leeds United may be the better team, but Wolves look like the team that could make a Tammy Abraham out of Ugbo if he makes use of his opportunities well.
