A Perfect Chris Wood Replacement? Who Is This German Forward Leeds Have Signed Ahead Of Deadline Day

Scout Report – Pierre-Michel Lasogga

Leeds United have added German striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga to their ranks and he looks like an excellent prospect for the Elland Road side who are unbeaten as yet this season.

For whatever unknown reason, Lasogga is out of favour currently at Hamburg and was made available for transfer with Leeds’ Danish boss looking to solve the problem of his club being short of strikers.

With the sale of Chris Wood possibly fetching in around £15million, the Elland Road side can afford to pay Lasogga’s wage as he arrives on loan for the season and here’s what we know about him thus far:

History

Born in Gladbeck, Germany back in late 1991, Lasogga was picked up by FC Gladbeck at barely five years of age. After three years at his local club, he carried on his education at Schalke 04, Rot-Weiss Essen, Wattenscheid, Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen, before a senior debut for the latter’s second team came in 2010.

After turning out for both Leverkusen II and Hertha Berlin II, Lasogga was picked up by Hamburg where he made a real breakthrough in the game, scoring 26 league goals in 96 appearances before falling out of favour this summer.

Style Of Play

Known primarily as a goal scorer, Lasogga is tall and rangy, and does not like to move much further than the opposition penalty box.

His power in the air is good and he can hold the ball up very well, though given his style he is someone who can and does rely on good service. If nothing is happening for him in a given game, Lasogga will potentially look lazy and can draw criticism, however, when chances are created, he comes alive and can certainly put the ball away.

His Future

It’s clear that Hamburg neither want or need him back right now at Bundesliga level and so that will potentially damage his chances of getting any game time in that league for any club.

Despite that dent in reputation though, playing in the English Championship is a great opportunity for him to impress and given that he is only on loan, he will need to play well in order to get a good move next summer.

How good a move that is in England may depend on where Leeds finish this year. If they can get promotion then he’ll probably find himself in the Premier League with the West Yorkshire side though and if they don’t, he may struggle to land a top gig in this country.