Peterborough United’s chairman Darragh MacAnthony recently confirmed that Leeds United were interested in signing last season’s League One top scorer Jack Marriott. The English striker went on to join Derby County in the summer and has slowly found his radar at Pride Park having scored four goals in the last five games including goals against Manchester United and Chelsea in the Carabao Cup.
MacAnthony took to Twitter and was conducting a Q & A session and confirmed that the Whites had put in an unofficial bid in January.
Verbal bid end of Jan then casual call in summer but no formal bid in summer. https://t.co/JNSU2IcdHQ
— Darragh MacAnthony (@DMAC102) October 31, 2018
Leeds United might be feeling that they missed an excellent opportunity to sign this talented striker for £5m. Instead, Bielsa had gone on to bring in the more costly Patrick Bamford who is currently out with injury. The Whites have played an extravagant brand of football, and someone like Marriott would have added more potency to their attack. We all saw how the club suffered in the last one month when both Patrick Bamford and Kemar Roofe were out injured.
Last season, the forward racked up 33 goals in all competitions and ended up as the top scorer in the League One. On the other hand United’s top scorer Kemar Roofe just managed 14 last season. However, to be fair to United, one cannot really compare last season’s stats as Bielsa has completely transformed this team under his management.
Mariott has everything to his game which a top striker needs as he is strong in the air, can hold up play well and often makes good runs in between the defence line. When it comes to finishing, the 24-year-old is instinctive, and he always seems to know where to be in the attacking third. Marriott scores a lot of poachers goal, and maybe someone like him could have made the difference at Leeds United as they have lacked the end product of late.
However, many of the fans would still agree that Patrick Bamford was a better signing than someone like Marriott. The fact that he had been coming from a lower league while Bamford is a one-time Championship player of the season winner makes it clear that the Boro man was a much-proven quantity. The Whites are just plain unlucky that their signing had suffered a significant injury.
Nevertheless, it’s too early to call whether Mariott has been a big miss for Bielsa. However, many would agree that United could have down with signing two strikers in the summer market. The squad clearly looks thin, and someone like Marriott would have been a decent addition if they had launched an official bid in the summer.
