Leeds United went into the first international break of the 2024/25 campaign after a mixed start to the season under Daniel Farke in all competitions.
The Whites kicked off the term with a dramatic 3-3 draw with newly-promoted side Portsmouth at Elland Road on the opening day of the Championship.
That was followed up by a dismal 3-0 defeat to Middlesbrough in the League Cup, which ended the club’s involvement in cup competitions until the second half of the season.
They were then held to a 0-0 draw by West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns, as they went winless across their first three matches of the campaign.
However, they have turned their fortunes around in the last two games, with 2-0 wins against both Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City prior to the break.
Farke will now be hoping that team can continue that run of wins when his players return from their respective countries to face Burnley at Elland Road on Saturday.
One player who has had a strong international break so far, and a fantastic start to the season with Leeds, is centre-forward Mateo Joseph.
Mateo Joseph’s impressive start to the season
The Whites academy graduate had not started a single league game at first-team level in his career prior to the 2024/25 campaign, with all 20 of his Championship appearances last term coming as a substitute.
Despite his lack of experience as a starter, Farke has placed his faith in the Spanish youngster to be the first-choice number nine for Leeds ahead of Patrick Bamford and Joel Piroe.
Joseph has started all four of the club’s matches in the Championship so far this term and caught the eye with his contributions in the final third.
2024/25 Championship | Mateo Joseph |
|---|---|
Appearances | 4 |
Goals | 1 |
Big chances created | 3 |
Assists | 2 |
Dribbles completed per game | 1.5 |
As you can see in the table above, the 20-year-old marksman has been directly involved in three goals in four outings in the second tier so far.
The young ace scored his first goal of the season in the 2-0 win over Hull last time out for Leeds, as the striker got across his marker to poke Manor Solomon’s cross into the back of the net.
Joseph went away with Spain for U21 duty this week and came off the bench to score the winning goal against Scotland in a 2-1 victory for his country, which means that he has produced two goals and two assists in five games for club and country.
He is an incredibly promising centre-forward who looks set for a big future in West Yorkshire, given his emergence this season, and Farke will be hoping that the gem can continue to develop and improve over the weeks, months, and years to come.
The German head coach deserves credit for giving him an opportunity as former Whites boss Marcelo Bielsa once allowed his own version of Joseph – Rafa Mujica – to leave for nothing.
Leeds fumbled Rafa Mujica
In the summer of 2019, the West Yorkshire outfit moved to snap up the talented marksman on a free transfer from LaLiga side Barcelona, after his contract with the Spanish giants expired.
The young centre-forward had plundered seven goals in 33 appearances for Barcelona B during the 2018/19 campaign, and that return was enough to tempt the English outfit into swooping for him that summer.
He joined as a development player, however, and did not slot straight into Bielsa’s first-team squad, as Bamford led the line and helped the team to win the Championship title in the 2019/20 season.
This meant that Mujica had to go down the loan route, instead of pushing for a place in the senior team, and that resulted in loan moves to Extremadura, Villarreal CF B, Real Oviedo, and UD Las Palmas.
The Spain U19 international eventually left Leeds to sign for Las Palmas on a free transfer in the summer of 2021, after two years and zero first-team appearances at Elland Road.
After one year with the Spanish side as a permanent addition, Liga Portugal outfit Arouca swooped to sign him and he has thrived as a player ever since.
Why Mujica could have been Bielsa’s own Joseph
The former Leeds prospect’s form since moving on from Yorkshire suggests that the club lost a player with the player to be a breakthrough star from the academy, as Joseph has been this season.
Mujica plundered 14 goals and one assist in 32 appearances for Arouca in all competitions during the 2022/23 campaign, one year after his move away from England, and that included eight goals in the Portuguese top-flight.
The 25-year-old star stepped his game up again in the following season, with a return of 23 goals and four assists in 36 outings for the Portuguese side in all competitions.
23/24 season | Mujica (Liga Portugal) | Bamford (Championship) | Piroe (Championship) |
|---|---|---|---|
Appearances | 30 | 33 | 45 |
xG | 16.27 | 9.52 | 12.74 |
Goals | 20 | 8 | 13 |
Assists | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Key passes per game | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.8 |
Stats via Sofascore | |||
As you can see in the table above, Mujica outperformed Bamford and Piroe as a goalscorer at league level in the 2023/24 campaign, whilst playing in the top division in Portugal.
His impressive form for Arouca caught the eye of Qatar-based outfit Al-Sadd and they swooped to sign the 25-year-old ace on a permanent deal this summer.
It was reported that they secured his services for a fee of €10m (£8.4m) and this illustrates how much of an error Leeds made by allowing him to move on for nothing in 2021.
Mujica, who has scored five goals in his first three matches for Al-Sadd, has plundered an incredible 25 goals in 33 league games since the start of last season, which shows that he is a clinical and lethal centre-forward who knows how to find the back of the net on a regular basis.
He could have showcased those qualities at Elland Road, if given an opportunity, but Bielsa did not opt to present him with that chance, which meant that the Argentine head coach ultimately lost his own Joseph by allowing him to leave for nothing.
