Sky Sports pundit raves about ‘Dynamic’ forward who Leeds are reportedly ready to pay £20m for
Sky Sports pundit David Prutton has claimed that Leeds United would be signing themselves a more “dynamic version of Pablo Hernandez” if they snap up Said Benhrama from Brentford this summer.
According to the Express, Leeds are set to table a bid for the 24-year-old Algeria international and are ready to pay up to £20million to secure his signature.
However, West Ham and Aston Villa, who are managed by Benrahma’s ex-manager Dean Smith, are also in the running for the former OGC Nice forward.
Prutton believes that Benrahma, and his Brentford team-mate Ollie Watkins, would be good signings for Leeds this summer as they suit the profile of a player Marcelo Bielsa likes and could replace some of the ageing members of the squad.
“You get the feeling that with Benrahma and with Watkins, if they were players that Leeds were after then I think the two of them would be extremely decent acquisitions,” Prutton wrote on the Yorkshire Evening Post website.
“I have seen them both up close and personal and seen their approach to their profession and we know that Marcelo likes silky players, skilful players.
“But we also know that he likes people who absolutely work their tails off.”
He added: “I think Said is a slightly more younger, dynamic version of Pablo Hernandez.
“That’s a pretty easy comparison to make because of the positions that both of the players play in.
“Said is afforded a degree of freedom in the Brentford side.
“I don’t mean indulged so he goes wandering about but indulged in the sense where he can go and create stuff.”
We don’t believe for one moment that Bielsa is eyeing up someone who can replace Hernandez in his starting line-up because the 35-year-old Spaniard has been so crucial to his system in the Championship.
Hernandez missed 10 Championship matches last season and out of those 10 matches, Leeds have a win-rate of just 30 per cent.
We can see why Prutton would compare Hernandez and Benrahma but Hernandez has adopted a more central role for Bielsa now while Benrahma has spent the season playing on the left-hand side of Brentford’s ‘BMW’ attack.
He scored 17 goals and supplied 10 assists in 46 appearances as the Bees missed out on promotion.
He’d be a top-quality addition but Leeds do have plenty of options to play on the left-wing with Jack Harrison set to return on loan while Ezgjan Alioski and Stuart Dallas can also play there.
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