Leeds United fans have been rocked by the news that one of their star men is already planning his Elland Road departure, though it may not be immediate.
Farke's side flying high
Despite suffering relegation heartbreak in the Premier League last season, Leeds United are looking to bounce back immediately and are well-placed to do so under Daniel Farke.
Currently sitting third in the SkyBet Championship, they face bottom side Rotherham this weekend with the chance to move into second place and an automatic promotion spot two-thirds of the way through the season, and to extend their winning run in the league to seven matches, the best record in the division.
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With the second-best defence in the division and the fourth-best attack, it is no surprise to see them towards the top of the tree, and the Elland Road faithful will be hoping that they can avoid the play-offs altogether following their heartbreak in that format in 2019.
They also kept their chances of silverware alive courtesy of a 4th round replay win over fellow Championship side Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup, and will face midtable Premier League side Chelsea at Stamford Bridge at the end of the month in a bid to ultimately book a place at Wembley in May.
However, one of their star men has punctured the feel-good balloon somewhat.
Piroe keen for new challenges
This comes as summer signing Joel Piroe has revealed his ultimate career aims lie away from Yorkshire, and rather in Spain and La Liga. Piroe has been a key figure for Farke since his arrival in the summer from Swansea, with the Dutch attacker scoring 10 goals in 29 Championship outings to date as well as providing an assist.
Initially signed as a striker, he has been deployed to great effect slightly further back as a no.10, and is the clubs joint second top-goalscorer for the season.
Leeds top scorers
Goals (Championship)
Crysencio Summerville
13
Dan James
10
Joel Piroe
10
Georginio Rutter
6
Pascal Struijk
5
The return of Patrick Bamford has seen his regular spot in the XI reduced, but he remains a key figure at Elland Road when on the pitch. But speaking to Dutch media, Piroe revealed that in a perfect world, he will head to La Liga later in his career, despite his immediate desire to remain at Elland Road and enjoy Premier League football.
“At Leeds, I can really conquer my place, so that I’ll be there when we manage to get promoted to the Premier League", he told Voetbalzone, via TeamTalk.
"In the short term, I want to play in the Premier League with Leeds and I also want to show that I can score my goals at that level.
"It’d certainly be nice to play in Spain one day, although I must say that the Premier League has become so strong in recent years that no one can ignore it anymore. At the moment, it’s simply the biggest and best competition in the world. I want to experience that first.”
Signed for just £12m, Leeds should be able to turn a strong profit on the attacker should they choose to cash in, but for now he is a vital cog in their promotion-pushing machine.
