Patrick Bamford is a player who is harshly recognised by many for failing to perform in the Premier League, having been presented with opportunities at a series of different clubs including Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Burnley and Middlesbrough.
Since moving to Leeds United, his reputation has improved but once the club secured promotion back to England's top-flight for the first time in 16 years, question marks once again surfaced regarding his ability to perform and Rodrigo - who was signed from Valencia in the summer for around £27m - was rumoured to be displacing him.
However, nine matches into the new campaign, Bamford is showing up as one of the most active and involved strikers in the division and that can be captured using the numbers beneath the surface.
So far, he has taken a total of 34 shots for United which places him second behind only Harry Kane on 35; the Englishman is attempting to score roughly four times per 90 which places him behind only Diogo Jota and - interestingly - Rodrigo, both of whom have played around half of Bamford's minutes.
Moreover, the shots that he's taking are regarded as valuable in Expected Goals (xG) terms because they tend to originate close to goal. He is posting 0.73 xG per 90 this season, which is the best in the division ahead of second-placed Dominic Calvert-Lewin, with both strikers evidencing a tendency to get shots away from around six yards out.
It seems Bamford's finishing will always be placed under the microscope but when it comes to his performances from match to match, he is portraying himself as one of the most dangerous players around.
Marcelo Bielsa's outfit dominated the Championship last year and as a result, Bamford posted consistently encouraging numbers, but what is more impressive is that those numbers seem largely unchanged at present despite the step up in competition quality.
The 27 year-old is accumulating efforts on goal at a high rate and when those shots come around, they are also from good locations meaning that Bamford has both quality and quantity on his side.
He's found the net seven times so far which ranks him joint-fifth in the race for the Golden Boot, and unlike two of the four names ahead of him, he has not benefited from the luxury of penalties.
Ultimately, the season is still young but if the underlying numbers are to be relied upon to predict future performances, Bamford looks set to bag plenty more goals before the end of the campaign.
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