Leeds United have introduced their first signing of the January switch window.
The Yorkshire outfit have signed Maximilian Wober from RB Salzburg for a payment of round £11m, topic to a piece allow. The 24-year-old of Austrian descent has signed a four-and-a-half-year contract to 2027.
He’s a participant that has loads of Leeds connections – present supervisor Jesse Marsch made him the Austrian Bundesliga’s costliest signing ever in August 2019, bringing him to the Crimson Bull Area to ultimately play with Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen.
Wober is a vastly versatile defender who’s able to enjoying as a centre-back and as a left-back, and the latter is the place he may assist the Whites probably the most, given their battle within the place because the American took cost.
It’s a place that he has primarily performed for Salzburg this marketing campaign, that includes 16 instances there, in comparison with simply three within the center, by way of Transfermarkt.
Ought to Struijk now begin at centre-back?
YES!
NO!
Struijk step-up
With Wober prone to take his place on the left-hand facet of defence, Pascal Struijk could possibly be set for a large increase as he’ll now be capable of shift again into his pure central defensive position, the place he may show to be a much more dependable choice than the likes of Liam Cooper, Diego Llorente and Robin Koch.
Regardless of being performed out of place, the £50k-per-week Dutch colossus is at present Leeds’ best-performing participant within the Premier League, averaging a WhoScored score of seven.07.
The following centre-back on the record is ninth (Cooper), while Marsch’s different left-back – Junior Firpo – ranks twentieth out of 25 however he has been injured. Though dubbed a “legal responsibility” by Mirror journalist David Anderson solely final season, it’s clear that he’s not reliable both.
A number of the Whites’ points this time period stem from the again, with solely 4 groups leaking extra targets than them from their opening 16 matches and as such, a tactical tweak that includes Wober coming in at left-back and Struijk within the center may show to be helpful in the long term.
Struijk, 23, additionally outperforms Koch and Llorente for aerial duels gained per sport, proving to be an even bigger “monster” within the air – as as soon as lauded by journalist Daniel Fraiz-Martinez.
The 6 foot 3 titan (3.2) is behind solely midfield machine Tyler Adams (4.1) for tackles per sport and ranks third within the squad general for interceptions (1.6) per sport, by way of WhoScored, so it’s clear that these stable defensive attributes and his towering presence are finest served by means of the center and that’s actually aided by Wober’s arrival.
It’s a job that LeedsLive reporter Beren Cross has spoken glowingly about in regard to the £18m-rated star up to now.
“He’s going to grow to be a supreme centre-back,” he stated. “[Bielsa has] labored with so many gamers in world soccer, and for him to say the issues he’s saying about Pascal, it’s very, very thrilling.
“Defenders don’t all the time get a really thrilling press. It’s all about Raphinha, it’s all about Joe Gelhardt. However Pascal is the longer term.”
As such, director of soccer Victor Orta might have pulled a blinder by signing the Austrian for as little as £11m because it may see Marsch convey the perfect out of Struijk and in flip, get the Yorkshiremen again on observe defensively.
AND in different information, “Sadly” – Beren Cross claims Marsch favorite may now be dropped at Leeds…
