Leeds United defeated Sheffield United 2-0 at Elland Road on Friday night, moving them up to third place in the Championship standings.
Prior to the match, their rivals had won six straight games in the second division, but they were unable to stop Daniel Farke’s team, who triumphed rather easily.
Although Pascal Struijk’s goal in the 69th minute gave them the lead, the opposition failed to create a single “big chance” or have a shot on goal during the whole match.
As Leeds broke through a resolute defending, they produced three ‘big chances’ and had a total of four attempts on target, scoring from two of them.
Following Struijk’s first goal, the Whites appeared to have a better chance of scoring again than the Blades, and Mateo Joseph sealed the victory in the ninetieth minute with a cool finish.
With that goal, the academy graduate’s tally for the Championship this season is six goals and six assists, meaning Leeds is receiving more than their money’s worth from Joseph and Joel Piroe.
The richest Leeds United players
Both strikers’ weekly salaries, according to Capology, are barely £15,000, making them far from the highest paid players in the team for the 2024–2025 season.
Only three players have lower salary structures: Alex Cairns, Joe Rothwell (on loan from Bournemouth), and Isaac Schmidt. All three are backup alternatives when all other players are available and healthy.
With Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev out due to injury, Rothwell is now enjoying a run of starts. This means that Joseph and Piroe are the two lowest-paid regular starters.
As the above table illustrates, Wilfried Gnonto, who is currently ranked tenth, earns half as much as Joseph and Piroe, who do not rank among the top ten earners at Elland Road.
According to these numbers, Patrick Bamford is the highest-paid player in the team, earning an incredible £70k each week—more than twice as much as the other two strikers put together.
Now that RB Salzburg’s Adam Daghim has been connected to Daniel Farke, he needs to cut the English forward from the team as soon as the January transfer market opens, assuming there are any suitors.
Why it is time to sell Patrick Bamford
The former England international is reportedly open to leaving the team since he hasn’t performed well enough on the field to warrant his enormous salary.
Despite having a contract that runs until the summer of 2026, Football Insider recently reported that the left-footed marksman is thinking of leaving West Yorkshire after the conclusion of the 2024–2025 season.
With just four substitute appearances in the Championship this season, the 31-year-old forward is rumored to have grown disgruntled with his lack of playing time under Farke, and the club is willing to let him go.
Given their combined 12 goal contributions, Bamford has been lagging behind Piroe and Joseph in the standings and has struggled this season even when he was playing regularly.
The following table illustrates how the seasoned forward let himself down in front of goal the previous season, missing nine “big chances” and doing poorly against his xG.
In addition, he was hardly ever a creator for his teammates, averaging fewer than one crucial pass per game and just one assist in 33 championship contests.
Not only should Farke fire Bamford in January, but the German manager should also fire Joe Gelhardt since the forward doesn’t make as big of an effect as Joseph and Piroe do, even though Gelhardt makes the same amount of money each week.
The case for Leeds to offload Joe Gelhardt
The 22-year-old attacker has failed to establish himself as a Leeds regular.
The 22-year-old was sent out on loan to Sunderland to play regular minutes in the second half of the 2022/23 campaign and only scored three goals in 18 Championship matches.
Despite his lack of production during his time with the Black Cats, Farke opted to keep the young attacker in his squad for the 2023/24 season, having arrived at the club in the summer to lead the team back to the Premier League.
Gelhardt hasn’t played much for the Whites at the Championship level since returning from his loan with Sunderland in the summer of 2023, as the table above illustrates.
With just 12 division games under his belt, the adaptable forward has yet to find the net, provide an assist, or create a “big chance” for the West Yorkshire team.
He is two years older than Joseph, who has already tallied two goals and three assists in the league this year. Based on their contrasting results, it doesn’t appear probable that he will catch up to the Spanish player very soon.