According to reports, Leeds United are interested in HSV striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga, following their failed attempts to sign top target Ashley Fletcher, after the youngster moved to Middlesbrough. The Whites have been keeping tabs on Lasogga throughout this summer and is now, attempting to bring the striker to England this summer, after Hamburg declared him surplus to the requirements. So, will be useful in bringing Leeds United to the top? Here’s a SWOT analysis of the 25-year-old attacker.
Strengths
Lasogga’s strengths definitely lie within the box. He is a proper target man and therefore is perfectly suited to English conditions. He is also a very combative striker and is willing to go head to head with any opposition defender, thanks to his physical prowess.
Even though the former Hertha Berlin forward attained a lot of criticism in recent years, Lasogga is actually a very good centre forward if given the right amount of delivery.
The 25-year-old prevails especially when his team is crossing at will and considering his tendency to score from headers, you’d expect him to bury one of them in the back of the net.
Despite his relatively young age of 25, Lasogga is quite experienced in the Bundesliga. He was a former youth prodigy for Germany some three-four years ago when he used to score for fun, in the youth levels. The big striker had a good scoring record with Hertha Berlin, where he scored 24 goals in just 69 appearances with 11 assists. At Hamburg, he was shaped to be more of a target man, and in his first season at the Volksparkstadion, Lasogga scored an impressive 13 goals in just 20 games!
Weaknesses
All his scoring records aside, Lasogga has been criticized a lot in recent years, mostly due to his lack of scoring abilities. The striker has failed to live up to the expectations, and has only scored JUST ONE goal and created five chances last season in 20 appearances.
He is, often, very poor with his touches in the penalty area and doesn’t have a great passing ability with just 65% accuracy. That being said, he is also very injury prone, and a host of injuries throughout his career has hindered the progress of the Hamburg forward. 2011/12 was the only season he managed more than 30 games a season.
In truth, Lasogga is not really a great striker for a team, who usually hover around relegation places – as Hamburg have realized lately.
Oppurtunities
Leeds United are looking for someone who could give competition to Chris Woods and Caleb Ekuban, their latest signing this summer, from Chievo Verona. Considering this scenario, it may not be that easy for Lasogga to find regular gametime in the Championship.
But then again, he is hardly expected to start for Hamburg, with the likes of Bobby Wood, making good impressions early in the season. Therefore, it will probably be a good decision for the player to move to the English outfit and try his luck on the English soil.
Threats
There are definitely a lot threats regarding the transfer. First of all, Pierre-Michel Lasogga is one of Hamburg’s top earner, which might actually stall his move to England. Even though HSV are willing to compensate on that, in order to find a move for him elsewhere.
He also doesn’t come with huge praises either, mostly being criticized even by the HSV supporters. Therefore, it’s definitely going to be gamble to sign the former Hertha Berlin forward.
