Luciano in loan link?
Leeds have been linked with a sensational swoop for former striker Luciano Becchio.
The Argentine striker, 29, is rumoured to be the 'high profile striker" Monday's Yorkshire Evening Post reckon Leeds will sign on-loan before the trip to Millwall, would there be a better candidate to get our stuttering season back on track than the man who scored 75 times in 190 league appearances for the whites' in five years?
Well actually there is Billy Sharp from a personal perspective, however Becchio would not be a bad choice. Lets face it, he has hardly set the world alight at Norwich and has yet to score, making just eight appearances for the Canaries. They have since splashed out on Gary Hooper, Ricky Van Wolfswinkel and Johan Elmander so Becchio's unhappy spell at Carrow Road may be all but over.
He is the latest in a long succession of Leeds stars to head east, joining Norwich on January 31st last year after boss Neil Warnock did a cash plus player deal to bring in Steve Morison. The deal has proven to be a disaster on both sides, with Brian McDermott shipping out Morison to Millwall on a season long-loan and Becchio clearly struggling to make the step up to the Premiership but there is only a few a better at heading the ball and finishing in the Championship?
The Morison move was also done to a facilitate Noel Hunt's move from Reading, which so far has yet to yield a goal in Leeds colours. With just eight goals scored this season, McDermott needs to inject some real quality into our forward line quickly and by his own admission it will not come cheaply.
We may be able to do a deal where Norwich pay some of his wages. Becchio was on around £15,000 a week before he moved to Carrow Road, although the new Leeds board are keeping a tight reign on the purse strings, can they afford not to invest before yet another season fizzles out into mid-table mediocrity?
The board did of course move quickly to secure Ross McCormack on a new long-term deal, in the face of intense speculation that Middlesbrough were going to take him to the Riverside. Ironically Boro were reportedly going to turn to the Argentine having failed to sign the Scottish forward, but nothing materialised and could Becchio be on the verge of a sentimental "home-coming"?