Why Leeds United Should Waste No Time In Putting A Serious Offer To Sign Bristol City’s Joe Bryan
As we’ve already written earlier, Bristol City’s Joe Bryan has been in terrific form this season and has attracted the attention not just of Leeds United but a number of Premier League clubs this season.
Playing either as an attacking left-back or as a left-sided midfield player, Bryan has made 19 Championship appearances in this campaign scoring one goal and creating two others. According to Whoscored, his average rating per game is 7.42 out of 10, though it’s to be noted that during the two games he played on the left side of midfield this rose to 7.64.
In the long run though, Bryan looks like a really good attack-minded left full-back and someone who would ideally and belatedly replace Charlie Taylor. The Englishman left Leeds to join Burnley after some acrimony in the summer that has left Leeds short on left-backs.
Taylor is gone and forgotten though and hence Leeds cannot afford to mess around with this position anymore. Left-backs are probably the rarest breed in the game but nonetheless, that is still an important position. Not having a quality left-back results in 10% of your outfield team not being in an ideal state and it also affects the balance of the team.
An Influence On And Off The Field
It would appear that Bryan impresses off the field too. The City man has recently earned praise from a local non-league club for having agreed to pay for physiotherapy sessions to help one of their players recover from a serious injury.
Nailsea and Tickenham Football Club publicly thanked Bryan for his generosity after he offered to pay for the treatment of Chris Corner who suffered a broken tibia and fibula in a lower league match in November. Given that Corner is also a self-employed builder, the injury left him unable to work.
The Englishman contacted one of the physios at Bristol City, who also happens to play for Nailsea, and asked him to get the part-time player fit while he promised he’d take care of the bill. A great gesture indeed, and something which is indicative of the type of character the defender is.
Acts like this should not be overlooked by Leeds United’s fans and especially their board when making decisions on which players they want at their club.
Bryan fits a position they badly need to cover, is one of the better players in their division, is improving rapidly and is a role model off the field as well. Leeds should waste no time at all in putting a serious offer in Bristol City’s way, and catch hold of one of the rising stars in the Championship.