Leeds United’s summer target, Jordan Rhodes has been wooed by Norwich City and he has signed for them on a season-long loan for the upcoming season. The 28-year-old passed his medical at Carrow Road yesterday and is now a Canary, leaving the Peacocks in a troubled spot with just a month left in the summer transfer window.
Since making his switch to Sheffield Wednesday permanently last summer, Rhodes has failed to hit his prior scoring form and managed only 10 goals in 55 appearances for the Owls. He is at odds end after enduring a torrid couple of seasons in the Championship level. He struck 7 times for Sheffield last term and just 6 times with Middlesbrough.
Such a massive spike from his usual numbers has been hard to digest for the Owls fans and management. The Scotsman earned great plaudits for scoring 95 goals in 207 previous Championship appearances and hence was brought out for such a hefty fee. He did wonders with Blackburn Rovers and Huddersfield Town which in turn initiated the big-money move to Boro.
One would have imagined that Rhodes would only replicate his scoring form at the Riverside Stadium but unfortunately could not meet expectations. He made just 17 starts for Sheffield the last term and is far from averaging over 20 league goals in a single season.
Maybe a change in atmosphere will be able to turn his career around and Leeds United could have been the ideal place to start. The Peacocks are in dire need of a number nine after the departure of Pierre-Michel Lasogga on completion of his loan spell. Bielsa might just have handed Rhodes a starting role ahead of the injured Caleb Ekuban and Pawel Cibicki.
Rhodes’ contract with the Owls is set to run for another two seasons. He started his professional career with Ipswich Town, scoring over 40 goals for the U16s, U18s and reserve side. He had successful loan spells with Oxford United, Rochdale and Brentford.
His current situation at Hillsborough was rooted against him as Gary Hooper, Atdhe Nuhiu, Fernando Forestieri and Lucas Joao are all contesting for a spot in attack. However, now that he is at Norwich, he will look to make it count as much as possible and revive his career.
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With Jordan Rhodes’ move confirmed to Carrow Road, Leeds United manager Bielsa should strongly consider making a stronger approach towards bagging Abel Hernandez. It is time that the Argentine boss exerts more intent on whatever options he has at his disposal and available in the transfer market rather than letting rival outfits pry them away, just like in the case of the 28-year-old Scottish striker.
