Picking up just one win across their last five Championship contests, Leeds United are in danger of falling out of the coveted top two positions in the tricky division.
If it hadn’t been for Zan Vipotnik’s late equaliser for Swansea City on Saturday, a golden victory would have been coming the way of the hot-and-cold Whites, but a disappointing 2-2 draw would end up being the final scoreline instead.
There were plenty of heroes and villains on show from the hosts, with Wilfried Gnonto firmly in the first bracket after scoring Leeds’ second on the day, whilst Illan Meslier continues to find himself in the club’s bad books.
Best and worst performers vs Swansea
Despite Gnonto displaying obvious class this season, the Italian attacker has only started 20 Championship games across 2024/25 to date.
Still, the 5 foot 8 speedster would only need 14 minutes of action against Alan Sheehan’s Swans to gift his side the slender 2-1 lead, with the 21-year-old’s effort far too fierce for opposition goalkeeper Lawrence Vigoroux to palm away.
Unfortunately for the promotion chasers, that goal would be immediately cancelled out by Vipotnik’s strike right at the death, with questions rightly asked about Meslier after the effort somehow went past him.
Dropping the ball into Harry Darling’s path for 1-1 too, patience will be running very thin in the Leeds fanbase surrounding the error-prone Frenchman, with Meslier pocketing a hefty £30k-per-week wage – as per Capology – which is the same amount Gnonto rakes in.
Whilst promotion might see Farke change up who his starting ‘keeper is, there is one high earner – who earns more than Meslier and Gnonto – who is in danger of being axed in the short-term, with his performance against Swansea another worrying one to watch.
The Leeds high earner who could now be axed
Farke will be glad that there hasn’t been a whole host of injury issues for him to deal with this campaign, with the main concern in this area coming in the middle of the park.
Indeed, the likes of Ilia Gruev and Ethan Ampadu have found themselves sidelined for significant amounts of time this season, missing a combined 47 games, consequently, for both club and country.
Stat
Ampadu
Games missed
16
Leeds league wins when injured
8
Draws
5
Losses
3
Sourced by Transfermarkt
Ampadu’s long absences on the sideline haven’t necessarily hit Leeds hard, however, with Farke calling upon the likes of Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell in the holding midfield positions instead, leading to the Whites managing to pick up eight league wins when the 24-year-old is out of the side.
Arguably, his showing on Saturday looked as if his manager had fast-tracked him back into the XI too quickly after injury, with the shaky Leeds number four only registering 23 accurate passes when he is usually averaging 59.1 per Championship clash.
Of course, like Gnonto who is another high earner in the camp, there’s no doubt that Ampadu will still have a key role to play moving forward in Leeds’ promotion fight, but Farke might well feel he doesn’t need to start his £40k-per-week man every week following the Italian’s example.
With injury issues ramping up, it’s been far from a smooth sailing season for the Welshman, but the ex-Norwich City boss will know he needs to utilise his full squad between now and May in order to deliver a glorious return to the Premier League, even if that means he drops the 24-year-old on occasion.
Therefore, Farke must consider ruthlessly dropping the Wales international from the starting line-up and only bringing him in when the midfielder is fully fit and ready to play at his best.
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