Jamal Blackman is set to sign for Leeds United imminently. The young goalkeeper will join from Chelsea in the near future according to Phil Hay and that poses a few questions as well as the fact Leeds are signing a very good player.
Leeds United to end goalkeeper search with the signing of Jamal Blackman after reaching a deal with Chelsea:https://t.co/VCASqrsl5y #lufc
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) July 13, 2018
The hunt for a new goalkeeper has been dragging for Leeds and the fans. Jamal Blackman was actually the surprise package of the three linked, media only becoming aware after the player was spotted by fans at Elland Road and then Thorp Arch. Even that was over a week ago and he has been training with Chelsea at the start of pre-season.
Leeds original pursuit seemed to focus around the highly rated Angus Gunn. The player has just cost Southampton £13.5 million and that isn’t something Leeds could ever have competed with. In reality it was the correct move for the player because he was never set to get his chance at Manchester City in the near future.
Next up Leeds were linked with a big fan of the club David Stockdale. Wage demands meant a permanent signing was off the cards and Garry Monk refused to allow the player to come to Leeds United on loan, deal off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1OD45Pbucg
Blackman, of the three wasn’t really linked. What we do know is that he’s a keeper who was one of the best in the division last year, is very highly rated by Chelsea and will almost certainly be coming to Leeds to play first-team football for the year. The question then, what now for Baily Peacock-Farrell?
He’ll almost certainly stay unless Leeds decide to promote one of the under 23 goalkeepers. He really needs to be playing regular first-team football and last seasons performances gave him a real chance of being the number one. The harsh reality is that if Marcelo Bielsa fancies Blackman over Peacock-Farrell (for now) then the club, and fans have to accept that.
Polish youngster Kamil Miazek is highly rated and for me the best option would be now to loan Peacock-Farrell out in order to develop him rather than stunt his quick progress and use Miazek in the back-up role. The other option would be to allow them just to compete but that means the chances are he’ll end up on the bench and it’s a high risk strategy after how well he did last season.
It does Leeds United in a great position and Marcelo Bielsa with a good head ache, something he doesn’t have many of in terms of positions at the moment. The right-back and central midfield positions are healthy but apart from that the struggle is real. A striker, centre-back and wingers are key in the coming week, after all, the season starts in less than a month.
