Leeds United suffered their first defeat of the Championship season on Saturday as they had been crushed 1-0 by lately relegated Burnley at Elland Highway.

Luca Koleosho scored the one aim of the sport within the first half, racing down the fitting wing earlier than lashing a strike into the underside nook, however issues might have been so totally different had the Whites taken their possibilities.

Mateo Joseph missed an enormous alternative to open the scoring within the first jiffy of the match, firing broad after going one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Wilfried Gnonto struck straight at James Trafford after being slipped via on aim by Brenden Aaronson.

The centre-forward place for Leeds has been handed to Joseph up to now this season however the teenager nonetheless has extra to show earlier than he may be thought-about a dependable possibility for Daniel Farke.

A return of one aim and two assists in 5 Championship appearances up to now shouldn’t be spectacular. Nonetheless, the Spain U21 worldwide has loads of time to develop and enhance over the weeks and months to return.

They are going to be hoping that he develops multiple of their former centre-forward prospects, Jay-Roy Grot, did throughout his time at Elland Highway.

Jay-Roy Grot’s Leeds struggles

In the summertime of 2017, Thomas Christiansen swooped to signal the Netherlands U19 worldwide from Eredivisie outfit NEC Nijmegen on a everlasting deal.

The 19-year-old striker had racked up six targets in 35 appearances in all competitions for the Dutch facet, which satisfied the Whites to deliver him to West Yorkshire.

He had scored 5 targets in 20 Eredivisie outings in the course of the 2016/17 marketing campaign and arrived as a promising younger striker with potential to enhance.

As you possibly can see within the desk above, Grot was unable to make an on the spot impression in his first season within the Championship with Leeds, with a return of 1 aim in 20 appearances.

The younger ahead was then despatched out on mortgage to VVV-Venlo and Vitesse within the Netherlands for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 campaigns, earlier than being allowed to hitch VfL Osnabrück on a free switch in 2021.

This reveals that his time at Elland Highway was a battle, as he didn’t carry out on the pitch and left for nothing, while the participant they needed to signal earlier than they landed Grot has gone on to flourish in a giant away.

Leeds United’s try and signal Erling Haaland

In the summertime of 2017, earlier than a deal was agreed to deliver Grot to the membership, Leeds made an try and signal Erling Haaland from Molde on the age of 17.

{The teenager}, born in Leeds, was reportedly a supporter of the membership on the time, while taking part in for Molde, and his agent supplied him to Victor Orta.

Haaland travelled over to West Yorkshire, the place he was born, and met with Orta to debate a possible transfer to Elland Highway, going so far as to have a shirt along with his title on it created.

Agent Hayden Evans has since revealed that Haaland and his staff had been impressed by supervisor Thomas Christiansen and that they needed to get a deal over the road.

Nonetheless, Molde had been demanding a charge of £4m for the 17-year-old centre-forward and Leeds weren’t in a steady monetary place, which meant that they weren’t prepared to gamble that type of charge on a teenage striker who wouldn’t be a assured first-team participant for the membership.

Apparently, Evans added that the younger quantity 9 went to Elland Highway later that season to be within the away finish at Queens Park Rangers as a Christmas current.

While it’s comprehensible that they didn’t wish to spend £4m on an unproven 17-year-old as a Championship membership, Orta and Leeds might look again on that call with enormous remorse given what Haaland has achieved since that summer time.

Erling Haaland’s present market worth

On the time of writing (19/09/2024), Transfermartk has the Norway worldwide’s present market worth at €180m (£152m) and that’s fairly a leap from the £4m the Whites might have paid for him seven years in the past.

After Leeds opted in opposition to a transfer for the younger marksman, Haaland scored 16 targets and offered 5 assists in 30 matches in the course of the 2018 marketing campaign for Molde.

That earned him a transfer to RB Salzburg in January 2019 and the centre-forward went on to plunder an unbelievable 29 targets and 7 assists in 27 video games for the Austrian membership.

The prolific ahead then moved to Borussia Dortmund within the Bundesliga and racked up 86 targets and 23 assists in 89 outings for the German facet.

If that didn’t make Orta and Leeds begin to remorse not snapping him up for £4m then his subsequent transfer to Manchester Metropolis and success within the Premier League actually may have.

Haaland has produced a staggering 99 targets in 104 appearances in all competitions for Pep Guardiola since his switch to England in the summertime of 2022, 5 years on from his transfer to Elland Highway broke down.

As you possibly can see within the desk above, the 24-year-old celebrity has been extremely prolific within the Premier League over the past two years or so, successful the Golden Boot in each of his full seasons up to now.

He additionally fired in 12 targets in 11 video games within the Champions League within the 2022/23 marketing campaign, as Metropolis gained the competitors, which reveals that the striker is outstanding domestically and in Europe.

These statistics, and his sensational market worth, present that Leeds missed out large time by not paying the £4m Molde needed for the younger striker, who might have burst onto the scene in Yorkshire as a substitute of getting to work his solution to England via Salzburg and Dortmund.

As a substitute, they signed Grot as a younger centre-forward to develop and the Dutch quantity 9, who now performs for Kashiwa Reysol in Japan, was a flop at Elland Highway.