TBR View: Leeds United made right decision with Caleb Ekuban despite £9m valuation

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The news this week that Rangers might be interested in Caleb Ekuban certainly took LEeds United fans by surprise. It was even more surprising when they heard the price-tag, as reported by Fotospor. The Scottish side would need to pay £9 million for the Ghanaian. Italian giants Lazio are also said to be keen. 

It is a shock, because Ekuban hardly looked like a £9 million striker during his time at Elland Road. He scored just one goal in 20 Championship appearances following his transfer from Chievo in 2017. 

It was a season marred by injuries and a real lack of clinical edge in front of goal. 

When Marcelo Bielsa arrived in 2018, he was swiftly deemed surplus to requirements. As the Argentine explained to Goal.com at the time he had watched every minute of Ekuban’s time at Leeds and decided he would not be one of his two strikers. 

“If we have one position and three players it’s very difficult that the third player in the position gets time to play. I saw every game and every minute that they played last year and I also listened to the opinion of the club. 

“If you haven’t trained a player it’s a deficit to make a decision. We then built a group where we have two players for each position and if we had acted in another way it would have been counterproductive.”

Ekuban has since gone on to impress in Turkey but his record is nothing to consider ground-breaking. Last season he managed eight goals in 36 appearances. This campaign he has scored eight goals again, from 24 appearances. Good form, but not form that should have Leeds pandering.

The simple fact is, Ekuban was not fancied by Bielsa and would not have fitted into the tight-knit squad he wanted last term with Patrick Bamford and Kemar Roofe in attack. 

Leeds United fans will undoubtedly wish Ekuban all the best. But he is not a player they have massively missed for the past two seasons.