, Is Dutch midfield player the next transfer target for Leeds United?

Is Dutch midfield player the next transfer target for Leeds United?

Reports emerging from Sport Witness, via website Voetbal International, report that the next player to possibly fall from the much vaunted Leeds United Transfer Tombola™ is 24-year old Dutch-born Morrocan attacking midfielder and right wing Ali Messaoud who currently plays in the Dutch Eredivisie with Willem II with whom he made 27 appearances(including 4 as a substitute) this term. Voetbal International mention that he spoke with French side Brest “last week” and,

“terwijl hij vorige maand al onderhandelde met Leeds United (while last month [he] negotiated with Leeds United)”

‘Last month’ is worrying but, I guess, it is only a mere five days ago so it could well have been a recent ‘negotiation’. Anyway, should this one play out and Messaoud tumble from the tombola, just what would Leeds get for his signature?

Ali Messaoud 2014/15 Eredivisie statistical returns; per typical 90 minutes

  • 27 appearances, 2,081 minutes (average 77 minutes per appearance)
  • 517 accurate passes from 695 attempts (74% accuracy); 22 passes from 30 attempts per 90
  • 33 shot assist passes (6.4% passes end in shots for teammates)
  • 6 goal assists
  • 51 shots (31 outside box, 15 in penalty area, 5 in six-yard box); 2 shots per 90
  • 16 on-target shots
  • 5 goals (31.25% conversion rate for on-target shots)
  • 74 losses of possession; 3.2 losses of possession per 90

What Leeds would get is a high shot assist passer (33 shot assist passes, leading to 5 goal assists) who also gets himself in a position to shoot himself (51 shots over 27 appearances). The five goals that he scored this season, at a rate of 416 minutes per goal, marks him out to be in the region of a 10-goals a season player should he maintain this level of consistency. Last season for Willem II, in Holland’s 2nd tier Jupiler League, Messaoud scored ten goals and laid on five goal assists for teammates at the rate of 310 minutes per goal. The season before, when playing for AZ Alkmaar U21, he scored 13 goals in the Beloften Eerste Divisie .

Whichever way you look at it, if this rumour should firm up and come to fruition, Leeds would be gaining a player who certainly knows where the goal is and one who can play the attacking midfield role in what Uwe Rösler has said will be a high-energy pressing game.

 

 

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