Leeds United won the Championship title with a staggering haul of 100 points in the 2024/25 campaign, but they knew that the jump up to the Premier League was still a huge one.
The last six teams to have been promoted to the top-flight have all gone straight back down in the last two seasons, which illustrates the size of the task ahead for Daniel Farke’s Whites, Sunderland, and Burnley.
Unfortunately, though, Leeds ended the summer transfer window without doing all the business that they wanted to do in the forward areas, as they missed out on a deadline day deal for Harry Wilson.
The only attacker the Whites paid a transfer fee for in the window was Switzerland forward Noah Okafor, who joined from AC Milan for a reported £18m.
The 25-year-old winger only scored seven goals in 57 matches for Milan and Napoli in the last two seasons combined, per Sofascore, and was an unused substitute against Newcastle United last time out.
Another one of the club’s attacking signings over the summer who still has a big question mark hanging over him is centre-forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who joined on a free transfer from Everton.
Why Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a risk signing for Leeds
Speaking earlier this month, Leeds United’s managing director Robbie Evans explained the reasoning behind the signing: “When you acquire a new player, you’re making a sacrifice somewhere as far as their age, their experiences, their ceiling, their character or their injury history.
“Something is not going to be perfect, unless they are the highly expensive player. We’d rather take somebody that’s got the experience, the physicality, the profile, the goal record and the character, and bet on ourselves to keep them healthy, than take somebody who doesn’t have that ceiling.”
These are interesting comments from Evans and understandable to a point. Calvert-Lewin is a vastly experienced Premier League performer who has been there and done it in the past, but the main issue is that his best performances are well and truly in the past.
The former England international has failed to hit double digits for goals in the Premier League in any of the last four seasons, and has underperformed his xG in all nine of his seasons in the division.
24/25
8.85
3
23/24
13.63
7
22/23
6.50
2
21/22
6.22
5
20/21
18.21
16
19/20
16.11
13
18/19
6.17
6
17/18
5.44
4
16/17
1.25
1
As you can see in the table above, Calvert-Lewin is a wasteful finisher who has not provided much in the way of quality since the last season without crowds at games.
Evans also mentioned the injury risk, which is a big one with the striker, because the forward has missed 112 matches through injury in his career, per Transfermarkt.
The 28-year-old attacker is, therefore, an incredibly risky signing for Leeds because his goal record and his injury record both suggest that the Whites may struggle to get much of an impact out of him this season.
Time will tell whether or not that risk will end up being worth it or not, as it is now up to Calvert-Lewin to get his career back on track, but Leeds may regret letting go of a number nine who has outperformed the Englishman in recent years.
Where Are They Now
Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast’s Where Are They Now series.
Spanish striker Rafa Mujica left Elland Road to sign for Las Palmas on a free transfer, per Transfermarkt, in the summer of 2021, and has since gone on to shine in multiple countries.
Why Leeds must regret releasing Rafa Mujica
The young centre-forward went out on loan to various teams across Spain during his spell with Leeds before they ultimately decided that he was not going to make the grade in West Yorkshire and let him join Las Palmas for nothing.
He had failed to score more than four goals in any of his loan spells, per Transfermarkt, which may be why the club were willing to let him go in 2021, but they may look back on that decision with regret considering what the star has gone on to achieve.
Mujica really hit his stride at first-team level after his move that saw him sign for Arouca from Las Palmas in 2022. The Spanish marksman scored 14 goals in 32 matches in his first season in Portgual, per Transfermarkt.
Since the end of that season, from the summer of 2023 onwards, the former Leeds academy starlet has significantly outperformed Calvert-Lewin as a goalscorer in the past two seasons.
Mujica, who signed for Qatar-based side Al-Sadd last year, has scored 44 goals in all competitions for Arouca and Al-Sadd since the summer of 2023.
Appearances
65
26
Minutes played
5,297
4,243
Goals
44
11
Minutes per goal
120
385
Assists
9
5
As you can see in the table above, the 26-year-old striker has scored 33 more goals and provided four more assists than Calvert-Lewin in the last two years, with a far more impressive minutes per goal ratio.
Mujica, who was hailed as “magnificent” by former boss Pepe Mel, also outperformed his xG of 16.27 to score 20 goals in the Portuguese top-flight in the 2023/24 campaign, per Sofascore.
These statistics suggest that the Spanish attacker is far more clinical and lethal in front of goal than Calvert-Lewin, having delivered at a decent level in Portugal and, now, in Qatar.
Whilst he is an unproven quantity in England and the Premier League, Mujica appears to be a far better player and far more valuable asset than he was when Leeds decided to let him join Las Palmas on a free transfer four years ago.
This is why supporters may look back on the decision to release Mujica as a poor one, particularly given the risks that the club have had to take with the signing of Calvert-Lewin in the hope that he can fire them to survival in the Premier League.
