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Scouting For Garry Monk: Why Leeds United Need To Sign Players For These Two Positions

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It has been a strange few years for fans of Leeds united. They were taken over by Italian Massimo Cellino in 2014 and what has proceeded is a few years of uncertainty where they were regularly in the press for all the wrong reasons.

The Leeds chairman sacked a stunning 6 managers in 2 years, before managing to attract former Swansea City manager Garry Monk in the summer. Whilst this was seen as a great signing, Leeds fans could be forgiven for being worried that that things could go very wrong.

This is a chairman that was so unpredictable that he retired the number 17 shirt, as well as having the number 17 removed from seats in the stadium and replaced with 16b as the number 17 is seen as unlucky in Italian culture.

But it seems that his lucky superstitions and the hiring of Garry Monk have finally turned this Leeds side around, and they are now sat in the Play off places and in the Quarter finals of the EFL cup having only lost 2 games in the last 12.

Garry Monk may not have had promotion on his mind in the summer, and instead focused on bringing through promising youngsters such as Ronaldo Vieira and Kalvin Phillips. Summer signing Eunan O’Kane has also fitted into the team well and is performing after his summer move from Bournemouth.

There are perhaps a few positions that Leeds need to look at in Januar if they are to make that extra push and try to get into the Premier League this season.

Striker

To thrive in the Championship, you need players capable of scoring goals. It is such a tight league that usually the teams with the few players that can take their chances clinically that finish in the higher positions. Newcastle are the case in point here. Not only do they have Dwight Gayle as the leagues top scorer but they have a wealth of other options that are capable of scoring goals for them.

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For Leeds, they currently have New Zealand international target man Chris Woods scoring, currently on 8 goals, but their next highest scorers are either defender Kyle Bartley or midfielder Pablo Hernandez, both on 2.

This is clearly an area that Leeds will be looking to strengthen and it is no surprise to see they have been linked with a January loan move for West Hams young forward Ashley Fletcher.

Defender

There is one thing that is glaringly obvious when you look at the Leeds United squad. They have an incredibly low average age with perhaps Pablo Hernandez and Rob Green the only players with a bit of experience in the Leeds ranks. The rest are all mid to low 20s.

Monk clearly had an eye on the future as he looked to develop a squad of young players that could play the passing football that he is famous for.

It is a notoriously difficult league to get out of, and you need at least a few wily campaigners capable of calming the nerves of the youngsters in the Leeds ranks when they get to the business end of the season.

Leeds have currently got 25 year olds Pontus Jansson and Kyle Bartley occupying the centre half positions, so this may be a position that Monk looks to add some strength and experience.