It’s fair to say that Patrick Bamford’s first season at Elland Road has divided opinion amongst the support base.
Nine goals in 23 appearances represent a decent return from the striker, whose season was heavily disrupted by injuries.
Despite, at times, struggling to hit the heights many had hoped following his £7m move from Middlesbrough, the former Chelsea prodigy’s strike rate is not to be disputed.
With Kemar Roofe also spending a number of weeks in the treatment room, the burden was often on Bamford’s shoulders to carry the Leeds attack.
The Whites forward is yet to finish outside the top six at Championship level, having reached the play-offs with Middlesbrough, Derby County and now Leeds , in four separate seasons.
Whilst the support base may be split on his qualities, the statistics show that Bamford remains one of the deadliest strikers in the division.
Thanks to our friends at OptaPro , it’s been revealed that the 25-year-old scored the highest number of expected goals per 90 minutes last season (xG).
Expected goals (xG) measures the quality of a shot based on several variables such as assist type, shot angle and distance from goal, whether it was a headed shot and whether it was defined as a big chance.
Having completed 15.1 sets of 90 minutes, underlining his injury problems further, Bamford finished the season with an xG of 0.8, higher than any striker in the Championship.
Aston Villa’s Tammy Abraham ended the season with 0.73, followed shortly after by Roofe, with 0.71.
It’s no surprise, given the number of chances Bielsa’s side create every match, to see Bamford and Roofe in the top three of this category.
Whilst this pays testament to the quality of both Leeds strikers, it also is paying homage to the likes of Pablo Hernandez, Jack Harrison and Co for their service into the attackers.
With Helder Costa set to join that list of mercurial creative playmakers, United’s attacking duo will be licking their lips.
With any luck, they’ll stay clear of injuries, and if they can maintain their potent levels from last season, they may just fire Leeds United into the Premier League.
