Leeds United supporters are yet to see the best of their £2m defensive investment this season
It has been a shock to the system to see Leeds United as defensively strong as they have been so far this season given the struggles at the back over the last few campaigns.
So far, Daniel Farke’s side have only conceded seven goals in their opening eight Championship games of the season a record only bettered by Preston North End and Leicester City who currently sit in two of the top three places in the division.
Money was spent to improve the backline at Elland Road, with the Yorkshire Evening Post reporting on Tuesday (26 September) that the total spent on defensive recruitment throughout this summer was under £2million.
Explaining the breakdown of the spending, Joe Donnohue wrote: “A combined £1.4million of that was spent on Spurs loanee Djed Spence who is yet to start for the club and currently sidelined through injury, and back-up keeper Karl Barlow, yet to make a league appearance since joining in a £400,000 deal from Newcastle United.”
That means the defensive improvement from the last two seasons, where the Whites conceded a combined 157 Premier League goals has been managed by only using around £600,000 worth of new defenders, with the likes of Pascal Struijk and Luke Ayling stepping up.
Although the Championship is a step down in quality when compared to the Premier League, the familiar faces at Elland Road are showing they are more than capable of producing the form to take Leeds United back to the top flight.
Leeds have conceded the second-fewest shots on target so far in the division, only trailing Millwall and according to Donnohue’s report their non-penalty expected goals conceded are much higher than the seven goals they have conceded, showing the excellent work of Ilian Meslier and his defence.
Farke will be hoping this sort of record can be improved even further when Spence returns to action following his injury lay-off and although it is hard to compare stats across the divisions, the German boss deserves credit for how he has transformed this defence.
Most fans would have thought Struijk didn’t have the skills to cut it in English football last season, but under Farke’s tutelage, he looks an incredibly assured defender. If the Leeds backline can maintain this level of performance for the remainder of the season, promotion will be on the cards.
In other Leeds United news, Russell Martin has described his Southampton side as having a “huge hangover”