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Forget it Christiansen: Leeds United could do better than signing this 27-year old Serbian striker

Aleksandar Prijovic

Forget it Christiansen: Leeds United could do better than signing Aleksandar Prijovic

Serbian international striker Aleksandar Prijovic could be on his way to England, having attracted the interest of three clubs; Everton, Huddersfield Town and in particular, Leeds United. The 27-year-old former Legia Warsaw hitman is currently with PAOK Salonika and has hit 20 goals and 3 assists in his 40 matches in Greece, earning rave reviews along the way as well as collecting 7 caps for his country.

Reports emanating from Greece appear to suggest that for now at least, Prijovic will not move from PAOK as his club are hoping his value will increase further beyond the January transfer window and that they will perhaps look to sell him on in the summer.

From the player’s point of view though, a move to England is big for him and his international colleague Aleksandar Mitrovic is just up the road at Newcastle United, with the suggestion being that he has a better chance of making the Serbian squad for the World Cup in Russia if he plays in this country.

Legia Warsaw will also be pushing to make this move happen as Prijovic, if he does make the move, then they too will earn a cut of the transfer fee, 10% in fact. That fee is said to be around €10million (£8.8million) which is quite a commitment for Leeds, so would he be worth it?

Well, based on his goal scoring record alone, you would have to conclude it’s a risk. Prijo has been on the go since playing for Parma back in 2007/2008 and between that period and his time with Djurgarden in Sweden in 2014, he struck just 22 goals in 119 league games.

Bear in mind also that these games were in leagues such as League One in England (twice) as well as Switzerland, Sweden and Norway. His output did improve upon moving to Boluspor in Turkey but again, it wasn’t at the top level, though his 16 goals in 31 games still show a decent return.

He has now hit 13 goals in 28 games for PAOK in Greece over the course of the last two seasons which, also not a bad goals-per-game ratio, wouldn’t make me go out and spend the best part of €10million on him. I’m sure Leeds must have had a positive review from a scout, but his record suggests they should stay away.