When we signed Rodrigo Moreno following our sensational return to the Premier League, I have to admit, I didn’t think this could get any more high profile, though it was certainly one from left-field.
He’d just had a prolific couple of seasons at Valencia – still a big club and I thought this was certainly the type of player that we needed in the English top flight.
While Marcelo Bielsa seemed to favour Patrick Bamford – especially because of his exploits in our 2019/20 Championship title-winning season, our maverick manager actually appeared to get the best out of the Spaniard in a number 10 role.
As such, it saw him and Bamford form an effective partnership in attack and for a then club-record transfer fee of £27 million, his arrival was a serious statement of intent from the board.
How Did Rodrigo Fare?
We made a tremendous start to life back in the Premier League and because of this, the Spaniard had to wait until after a few games to make his first appearance.
Indeed, this was our home game against a tough Manchester City side and we were trailing 1-0 up until that point, but we were still playing well.
I remember putting in the WhatsApp group I’m in with mates (there’s a fair few Leeds fans), ‘we need to get Rodrigo on, he’ll score’ and, we all know what happened there. He secured a draw for us, to keep our fantastic run going.
Due to then struggling a bit with injury, he missed some of the campaign, though finished on a very creditable seven goals – four of them actually came in our last four games of the season, which included his first brace for the club, in a 4-0 win over Burnley.
The following season, in which we stayed up by the skin of our teeth, I thought Rodrigo was very useful – his experience plus his six gpals were key and this obviously played a key part in our survival.
Could We See Similar High Profile Signings?
Much will depend on whether we get prompoted and if we do, I think there is certainly scope for this to happen.
While Joel Piroe has been in superb form for us this season, I don’t think that there is any doubt that another centre foward is a priority – not exactly to replace Piroe, but more to provide competition. This definitely being the case if it is someone with experience at the highest level.
Erling Haaland would be fantastic, haha, to say he is a Leeds fan. You never know though. If we do go up and then should we be a consistent top four club by the time his contract at Manchester City expires, this could well happen.
But, yes, I can see a similar type of player to Rodrigo arriving if we do get promoted and we could well break another transfer record!
Rodrigo was definitely a great upgrade and I thought he gave us something different, even complementing what we already had.
