Leeds United wanted to sign Nottingham Forest star Taiwo Awoniyi under Jesse Marsch
Jesse Marsch has revealed that he wanted to sign Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi during his time at Leeds United while appearing on Sky Sports MNF.
The ex-Whites boss was a guest analyst on the show alongside Jamie Carragher (19 February) and was discussing the Nigeria international’s recent form after his goal against West Ham during Saturday’s win at the City Ground.
And while analysing footage of the goal, Marsch admitted he was a “big fan” of the striker and revealed he was someone that Leeds wanted to sign while he was in charge.
“We looked at him for Leeds and he came from the Bundesliga as well,” he said. “Good player.
“Technically very good, strong, fast, great touch there for that goal.”
Taiwo Awoniyi would have been perfect for Leeds United
When Leeds were battling against relegation under Jesse Marsch and then also under Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce, the biggest issue the team had was not scoring enough goals and conceding too many.
Ultimately the club moved to bring in Georginio Rutter in the January window and he failed to make any sort of impact in the Premier League, while Awoniyi has gone to Nottingham Forest and been sensational.
In fact, heading back to last season he has the best shot conversion rate of any players in the top flight to have scored 12 or more goals – even better than Erling Haaland.
That’s the type of quality the squad was desperate for to keep the team in the top flight, but it can be argued that the arrival of Rutter has better set the club up for the future.
There’s no guarantees that Awoniyi would have been able to perform in the Leeds team or if he would still be at the club had we been relegated, while Rutter is one of the most important players in the team now under Daniel Farke.
It’s a bit of a what if situation, but most fans would probably be delighted with how it turned out.
In other Leeds news, Jermaine Beckford claims Whites star would be “fuming” with teammate after what happened v Plymouth.
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