Joseph upgrade: Leeds considering bid to sign "powerful" £4m striker

Leeds United are currently top of the Championship table and know that a win over Norwich City at Elland Road on Wednesday night will ensure that they remain there.

The Whites are aiming to secure promotion to the Premier League at the second time of asking after they fell short in the play-offs after finishing third in the division in the 2023/24 campaign.

Daniel Farke‘s side will want to avoid going through the lottery of the play-offs and they moved one step closer to automatic promotion with a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in West Yorkshire last time out.

Goals from Manor Solomon, Largie Ramazani, and Ao Tanaka secured all three points for the Whites in their clash with the Owls on Sunday.

Despite the club’s excellent position in the Championship, Leeds may still look to utilise the January transfer window to bolster their squad before it slams shut at the start of next month.

In fact, the West Yorkshire outfit are reportedly in the market to add another attacking player to their squad before the window officially closes.

Leeds eyeing deal for new striker

According to The Lower Tiers, an account dedicated to EFL content, Leeds are one of a number of clubs interested in a deal to sign St. Gallen centre-forward Willem Geubbels this month.

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The report claims that the French striker has impressed for the Swiss side this season and has attracted interest from several clubs in England, who are now eyeing up moves for his services.

It states that Leeds, Sheffield United, and Burnley – three of the teams vying to secure automatic promotion to the Premier League – are all considering bids to sign the 23-year-old dynamo to bolster their respective attacks.

The report does not reveal how much St. Gallen would demand for their star striker, however, so it remains to be seen how much money the Whites would need to splash out to land his signature.

Geubbels is valued at around £4m by Transfermarkt, which may provide a rough idea as to his worth, but the Swiss outfit could demand more if they do not want to sell their main man midway through the season during the January transfer window.

Leeds should not be deterred by this, though, because the St. Gallen number nine could come in to improve Farke’s options at the top end of the pitch, as an upgrade on current Whites striker Mateo Joseph, in particular.

Mateo Joseph’s form this season

The Spain U21 international was used sparingly by the German head coach in the 2023/24 campaign during his first season of semi-regular first-team football.

Joseph made all 20 of his Championship appearances as a substitute and contributed with one goal, whilst being behind the likes of Georgino Rutter, Patrick Bamford, and Joel Piroe in the pecking order at Elland Road.

Rutter’s move to Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer and Bamford’s regression to being a back-up option in the squad has provided the academy graduate with an opportunity to stake a claim for his place in the starting XI this season.

The 21-year-old whiz has started 11 of his 27 appearances in the Championship so far this term but has been the second-choice behind Piroe for the most part, due to his struggles in front of goal in the second tier.

As you can see in the table above, no other player in the Leeds squad has underperformed against their Expected Goals tally by more than Joseph, who has only scored twice from 4.86 xG worth of chances.

This shows that the team have created plenty of high-quality opportunities for the Spanish striker to find the back of the net, only to be let down by his wasteful finishing more often than not.

With this in mind, Leeds could find an upgrade on the misfiring youngster by swooping to sign Geubbels from St. Gallen before the end of the January transfer window to come in and compete with Piroe for a starting berth in the side in the second half of the season.

Why Leeds should sign Willem Geubbels

The 23-year-old star’s form in the Swiss Super League so far in the 2024/25 campaign suggests that the potential is there for him to come in and improve Farke’s options at the top end of the pitch.

RangersJournal writer and content creator Kai Watson described Geubbels as a “powerful” and “quick” attacker who can use his pace on the last line to get in behind and cause defenders problems, which could make him an ideal alternative to Piroe, who lacks the athleticism to stretch defences.

The former Monaco and Lyon whiz has backed his physical attributes up with technical quality in the final third in recent seasons, with a return of eight goals and nine ‘big chances’ created in 26 starts in the Swiss Super League last term.

Geubbels has followed that up with an impressive first half of the current league campaign with St. Gallen, as he has once again proven himself to be adept at scoring and creating goals from a centre-forward position.

As you can see in the table above, the French dynamo has provided far more quality in the final third at league level in comparison to Joseph, with more goals and fewer ‘big chances’ created in 14 fewer appearances.

These statistics suggest that Geubbels is a better finisher than the Spanish forward, given his vastly superior conversion rate, and that could mean that he has a better chance of making the most of the quality opportunities that Leeds have been creating this season.

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