Leeds United made some solid signings over the summer transfer window as their Premier League survival bid continues in fine fashion – but Daniel Farke will look at the league’s other signings and know he got one incoming wrong.
Leeds brought in top talents from across the continent such as Anton Stach, Noah Okafor and Jaka Bijol among others, with domestic talents in the form of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Sean Longstaff and James Justin also joining.
It’s been solid business from Daniel Farke so far, with the German gaffer having mustered 11 points from nine games for Leeds so far in the campaign, keeping their heads way above the water in the push for Premier League survival.
But the former Norwich City gaffer may be forced to hold his hands up over a transfer blunder – with Leeds having purchased the worst of an incoming goalkeeper trio from the promoted clubs in themselves, Burnley and Sunderland, in the form of Lucas Perri.

Leeds signing Lucas Perri came with promise but other promoted clubs landed better options
Last season’s Championship title battle between Leeds, Burnley and Sheffield United should really have seen the Whites take the lead from mid-March onwards, due to their relentless goalscoring nature and solid backline.
However, Illan Meslier’s continued mistakes at Elland Road dragged Burnley and Sheffield United back into the race, and it was only with two games left that they actually clinched promotion. A lot of that was down to the Frenchman’s errors, including an infamous last-minute howler at Sunderland.
Upon promotion, it forced Leeds to sign a new goalkeeper, despite Meslier being hard to sell on Leeds’ behalf.
With Karl Darlow being the stop-gap towards the end of the season, Lucas Perri was their summer signing from Lyon and his aim was simply to stop blunders that Meslier had produced time and time again.
However, despite not doing much wrong per se, the Brazilian wasn’t the best summer signing Leeds could’ve made.
They were the most attractive proposition of the newly-promoted teams this summer, and could likely have had the pick of the bunch of any goalkeepers willing to join a ‘relegation threatened’ side.
However, strong performances from new Sunderland recruit Robin Roefs meant he was nominated for September’s Player of the Month, as well as knocking on the door for a starting berth in Netherlands’ national team.
Meanwhile, Burnley landing veteran Martin Dubravka has seen Alan Shearer wax lyrical over his outings. Leeds fans haven’t had quite the same clamour of success with Perri.

Statistics show Lucas Perri has been one of the worst Premier League goalkeepers this season
Per FBRef, Roefs has been the second-best goalkeeper in terms of save percentage this season in the Premier League.
Boasting an 82.1 percent save percentage, he ranks only behind Arsenal’s David Raya, who has saved 84.2 percent of his shots.
Dubravka isn’t far behind. He is 10th-best in the division, with a 72.5 save percentage – including a miraculous last-minute stop to hand Burnley a first away win over Wolves on Sunday.
By contrast, Perri is 23rd-best from a possible 28 goalkeepers in the league. He’s only saved 54.5 percent of his shots, with less saves from shots on target than goals against him.
And Karl Darlow hasn’t fared much better, with a 60 percent save percentage from shots on target.
Perri’s performances won’t be called up just yet, but if Leeds had signed either Roefs or Dubravka, they’d be even better off.
There is no denying it’s a missed opportunity from Daniel Farke.
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