Leeds missed out on a “world-class” star in the making

Leeds United manager Daniel Farke will have had a keen eye on the recent international matches that his players have been involved in during the break.

The German head coach will be delighted that his stars appear to have got through the international break without picking up any serious injury issues.

Leeds return to action in the Championship on Saturday with a trip to Wales to take on Swansea City, and look set to have the same squad that was available for the last outing against Queens Park Rangers.

Jayden Bogle and Joel Piroe scored the goals to secure all three points against Marti Cifuentes’ side and another win this weekend could send the Whites into the automatic promotion places, if results go their way, as they are two points behind Sheffield United and Sunderland.

The international break has also been an opportunity for some players to perform for their countries and show Farke that they deserve more minutes in West Yorkshire.

Mateo Joseph is one star who has taken his chance to shine. The Spain U21 international scored, what turned out to be, the winning goal against Denmark’s U21s on Tuesday.

Mateo Joseph’s form this season

The Leeds academy graduate took the ball in on the half turn in the six-yard box and brilliantly spun and found the back of the net with a quick shot.

It was his sixth goal in seven caps for Spain’s U21 side, since he decided to declare for Spain after a spell with England’s U20s, but he is yet to replicate that level of goalscoring at senior level.

Joseph scored 19 goals in 33 appearances for Leeds’ U21 team before his emergence as a regular first-team option under Farke in the 2023/24 campaign, albeit mainly as a substitute.

The young marksman scored three goals in 26 games for the first-team in all competitions last season, and two of those goals came in one of his only two starts – against Chelsea in the FA Cup.

This term, Farke has provided Joseph with more opportunities to shine from the start in the Championship, after he made 22 appearances in the division without starting in the 2023/24 campaign.

As you can see in the table above, the 21-year-old centre-forward has started fairly regularly but has failed to find the back of the net consistently.

His level of creativity, as a number nine, has been impressive but his rate of scoring must improve to ensure that he can nail down a starting spot week-in-week-out, and his form for Spain and Leeds at youth level suggests that the potential is there for him to score regularly.

At the age of 21, Joseph is a big and promising talent. However, Leeds once missed out on a deal to sign a teenage sensation who is an even bigger talent than the Spanish hotshot.

Leeds United tried to sign Ben Doak

In the summer of 2022, the West Yorkshire outfit were one of the sides reportedly in the running to secure a deal to sign Ben Doak from Scottish giants Celtic.

Premier League giants Liverpool eventually won the race for his signature and had to pay a compensation fee of just £600k to land the 16-year-old winger, who had not signed a professional contract with the Hoops.

The Athletic reported that Ange Postecoglou handed the teenage star a first-team debut in the Scottish Premiership, at the age of just 16, in an attempt to show him that there was a pathway to the senior side, but that was not enough to convince him to remain at Parkhead.

It was added that Leeds made a move to sign the young forward and, as per The Athletic, offered better terms than Liverpool did in an attempt to secure his services.

However, Doak chose footballing reasons over money and decided to fight for a future spot in Jurgen Klopp’s side at Anfield, instead of going to Elland Road for a bigger cheque.

One that got away

The transfers that nearly happened but never did. This article is part of Football FanCast’s One That Got Away series.

This means that Leeds missed out on the chance to sign the Scottish starlet for just £600k, which is particularly frustrating for the club when you look at what the winger is doing this season.

Ben Doak’s a bigger talent than Mateo Joseph

Now 19, Doak is playing regular first-team football for Scotland and Middlesbrough, having joined the Championship side on loan in the summer, and is thriving.

The electric dynamo has featured in all six and started four of Scotland’s games in the Nations League in the 2024/25 campaign and contributed with two ‘big chances’ created and one assist.

After his most recent displays for Scotland, Ally McCoist stated that the teenager has “outstanding potential” and compared him to Jude Bellingham in the sense that they are both “fearless” and play with “freedom”.

Former Scotland manager Craig Levein said “this kid could be a world-class player” after his showing against Croatia last week, and these comments from Levein and McCoist speak to how impressive the winger has been for his age.

Doak is two years younger than Joseph but has already established himself as a regular starter at international level and in the Championship with Middlesbrough.

As you can see in the table above, the Scottish whiz has started a higher percentage of his appearances in the second tier than the Leeds ace has, which suggests that he is well ahead of Joseph in his development – as he only turned 19 earlier this month.

What makes his form even more impressive this season is that he missed a whopping 41 matches with a meniscus tear last term, and has bounced back from that to shine for club and country.

At the age of 19, Doak has the world at his feet and – per Levein and McCoist – could be on his way to becoming a world-class talent for Liverpool and Scotland in the future, which is why he is an even bigger talent than Joseph – who is yet to nail down his consistency whilst being two years older.

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The former Leeds United sporting director will surely look back on this failure with regret.