Leeds United have experienced many transfer near misses in recent years, with the Whites unable to get a deal over the line for many a top star to join their club, before they then went on to excel at the lucky club that won their services.
Amazingly, around the same time the Whites would eventually land a deal to win Joel Piroe from Swansea City, the West Yorkshire outfit were also reportedly keen on Coventry City sharpshooter Victor Gyokeres to improve their attacking positions, but ultimately stumbled in their advances to pick him up.
Many potentially spectacular deals were also nipped in the bud by ex-Whites chairman Massimo Cellino when he was the controversial owner of the club, including one move that would’ve seen Sheffield Wednesday star Fernando Forestieri join the ranks in 2015, before he went on to become an iconic player for the Owls.
When Leeds tried to sign Forestieri
It’s fair to say that business in and out of the door at Leeds during the eventful ownership period of Cellino was scattergun, with the Whites prone to splashing the cash on many a dud.
The 2015/16 summer window was no exception, with Leeds snapping up some forgettable personnel such as central midfielder Toumani Diagouraga and former Chelsea goalkeeper Ross Turnbull, among other purchases.
Cellino could have entered into his side’s good books, however, with the statement buy of Forestieri, who would go on to score some unbelievable strikes for Wednesday like the outrageous goal above, away from ever joining Leeds.
The entertaining attacker was very close to joining the Whites during that same underwhelming window, having set the Championship alight with Watford during the 2014/15 campaign, with five goals and six assists registered from 24 league contests.
But, a deal would never get over the line in the end – despite originally agreeing an undisclosed fee – as Leeds’ loss was Wednesday’s major gain, with Cellino intervening by stating that the mercurial South American forward didn’t possess the ‘right mentality’ to be a success at Elland Road.
Instead, right at the death, Leeds opted to sign Jordan Botaka, in a switch that would end up being a failure to further add salt to the gaping Forestieri wound.
Botaka’s time at Leeds
Billed as being an equally exciting forward player in the mould of the 5 foot 8 attacker, having netted 12 goals for Excelsior Rotterdam before heading to England, Botaka would be a huge letdown.
The now 31-year-old winger would never even score a goal when playing in West Yorkshire, with only one assist also coming his way from 14 Leeds appearances, before he was allowed to leave for Sint-Truidense in Belgium in 2017 for free.
Botaka’s debut season numbers for Leeds (15/16) vs Forestieri’s at Wednesday (15/16) | ||
|---|---|---|
Stat | ||
Games played | 14 | 39 |
Goals scored | 0 | 15 |
Assists | 1 | 8 |
Sourced by Transfermarkt | ||
Whilst Botaka would seriously struggle for his new employers, Forestieri would undoubtedly shine at Hillsborough, with an unbelievable 15 goals and eight assists notched up by the explosive Argentinian during his debut season at the Owls, helping his side reach the play-offs.
Garry Monk would even go on to label the former Watford man as “devastating” when he was at the helm of the Owls as manager, with Forestieri still recognised as a modern-day great in Wednesday quarters today.
Whereas, most Leeds fans would have wiped Botaka’s dreadful spell from their memory and just put it down as another error typical of the comical Cellino era.
Fast forwarding to now, supporters will pray that the likes of Largie Ramazani and the other new signings made by Farke settle in well to their new environment, away from falling victim to any more costly mistakes in the transfer market.
