Kris Boyd believes Leeds should go and sign Blackburn Rovers attacker Sammie Szmodics after Mateo Joseph failed to impress against Portsmouth.
Having failed to win promotion last season after losing the play-off final to Southampton, Leeds kicked off the new campaign in chaotic fashion against Pompey.
Daniel Farke’s side required a 95th minute penalty from Brenden Aaronson to rescue a 3-3 draw at Elland Road.
Boyd urges Leeds to sign Szmodics
It’s been a difficult summer for Leeds, who have lost Archie Gray and Crysencio Summerville to Tottenham and West Ham respectively.
Those departures have seen the Whites lose a lot of quality from the their squad, and there’s still a chance more players could leave with Wilfried Gnonto attracting interest from Premier League clubs.
However, Leeds do have a considerable budget to spend in the window on reinforcements and it’s important they spend it wisely and get the right players in.
Ex-Rangers striker Boyd thought Leeds lacked a goal threat through the middle and urged them to reinvest some of the money they have made on Szmodics, who was the top scorer in the Championship last season with 27 goals.
“He (Summerville) is (a miss) but if you look at what? Kamara’s left, Summerville, Archie Gray’s left, you go right through the list, they’ve got money there why don’t you go and get a striker?, he told Sky Sports Soccer Saturday
“You’ve got someone there, Sammie Smodzics, who’s scored the goals for Blackburn last year, can you go and get him?
“Because they created loads of opportunities but they never looked like scoring and it was all from (Willy) Gnonto or Dan James the good work from them. (Jayden) Bogle got forward, Junior Firpo got forward, they put balls in the box but Joseph in the middle huffed and puffed but there wasn’t anything really there.”
Szmodics had attracted interest from Ipswich earlier in the window and Blackburn will be desperately hoping they can keep hold of their star man, who scored in their 4-2 win against Derby on Friday.
It’s certainly not time to panic after just one game but the addition of a proven goalscorer like Szmodics would be a huge plus and could be the difference between going up automatically or being in the play-offs.
