Since August 2015, Leeds United have been chasing a shadow of a player, or so it seems, in Anthony Limbombe. Now the NEC Nijmegen player has effectively gone on strike in an effort to force a move out of Holland with both West Yorkshire and Belgium seen as potential stays fot the no-doubt talented youngster.
Rumours pop-up like the little heads on the Whack-a-mole game, and every single time a Limbombe rumour pops up then Leeds fans have a swipe at it. ‘He’s a talent’, ‘I watch the Eredivisie every week and…’, ‘We need to go out and sign him because…’; the list of platitudes aimed at him is nothing short of exhaustive. Suddenly Limbombe becomes raised to the level of demi-god and some Leeds fans start to drool over him like he is the next Messi or something and destined to haul Leeds back to the shining gold of the Premier League.
Look, I could understand it at the beginning of last season when our player recruitment was, to be pleasant, a little beyond poor. We had Stuart Dallas on the left wing and two managers who were reluctant beyond belief to play Jordan Botaka, a tricky winger bought from Dutch side Excelsior when the August 2015 ‘Search for Limbombe’ proved fruitless. But now, why now?
We’ve brought in a scoring buddy up front for Chris Wood in Swedish striker Marcus Antonsson, a player brought in from Sweden’s Allsvenskan and the leading scorer in the first part of their season with 10 goals. We’ve brought in Kemar Roofe who set League Two alight with 18 goals. We’ve raided/plundered/begged Sporting Lisbon and managed to get a highly-thought of pacey attacking midfielder called Hadi sacko – the man with the €60m release clause.
Yet still the Limbombe rumours and bromanced love-in continues with certain Leeds fans. A side now packed with attacking talent, yet starved of defensive cover and some Leeds fans want to being in more attacking force. To use an analogy that’s bringing in a heck of a lot of cannons…and mounting them on a raft. Yes you’ve got firepower, but the base underneath it isn’t stable enough to allow you to prosper.
You see, what gets me is that, for all I care, Limbombe can stay in Holland, venture to Belgium or wander to France or Spain; we’ve got Stuart Dallas.
Lament the loss of Limbombe or demonstrate happiness we’ve got Dallas?
In order to answer this little conundrum, I’m going to fall into the trap of using stats, those horrible number things. I will be looking at the different output of both players last season and largely using the ‘per 90’ measure that allows you to look at the actual output of a player over a typical 90 minute match period. At least then you are looking at the closest that you can get to like-for-like.
Limbombe vs Dallas – per typical 90 minutes
- Shots: Limbombe 2.7 – 1.7 Dallas
- Dribbles: Limbombe 1.0 from 2.3 – 0.8 from 1.8 Dallas
- Possession Loss: Limbombe 2.3 dispossessed – 1.9 dispossessed Dallas
- Pass Attempts: Limbombe 29.6 – 28.4 Dallas
- Pass Success: Limbombe 24.4 – 21.1 Dallas
- Key Passes (leading to shots): Limbombe 1.6 – 1.5 Dallas
So, what the numbers show is that Anthony Limbombe and Stuart Dallas are pretty similar players; there really isn’t that much to divide them. What about the headline figures though? What about the goals and assists that they’ve brought to their sides?
- Goals: Limbombe 7 – 5 Dallas
- Assists: Limbombe 2 – 6 Dallas
So, if I may be excused, then as far as I’m concerned it is Stuart Dallas every time over Anthony Limbombe. Forget the chance of an exotic purchase with the young Belgian, Leeds should stick to creating a dynasty with Dallas.
