“Unplayable” – Journalist says Leeds could make “great” late signing
Although there has been much discussion about a move for Bournemouth’s David Brooks, there’s still a chance that Daniel Farke might bolster his team before Thursday’s transfer deadline arrives. There was a sense that Brooks might become available in the last trading days, even though the Cherries were unsure of their plan towards him earlier in the window.
In remarks made following his goal in Thursday night’s 5-0 FA Cup victory over Swansea, Brooks stated that he would “love” to remain at the Vitality Stadium but added that he is prepared to “explore the opportunities elsewhere” in the event that football isn’t “guaranteed”.
As for Bournemouth, manager Antonio Iraola was willing to let the player go as long as they could find a replacement and the financial terms “worked for everyone.”
“Unplayable” Brooks the subject of Leeds interest
As the deadline draws near, Leeds and Southampton are also expressing interest in Brooks, according to a tweet from talkSPORT journalist Alex Crook.
Leeds have extra incentive to win Brooks race
They scored five goals in the first half of their match against the Swans, as the table below illustrates, and Brooks was undoubtedly the star of the show for his team. Together with the goal noted above, he also set up two more goals and generated three opportunities for his teammates.
| David Brooks stats vs Swansea | Total |
|---|---|
| Goals | 1 |
| Shots | 3 |
| Assists | 2 |
| Key passes | 3 |
| Big chances created | 2 |
Brooks was too good for the Championship opposition, and he has experience playing in the second division, having played for both Bournemouth and Sheffield United. He led the south coast team into the playoffs in the 2020–21 season with 11 direct goal contributions in 32 league games. Based on the underlying statistics, he was among the greatest playmakers in the division with 0.21 predicted assists per 90 minutes.
Naturally, after receiving his cancer diagnosis, Brooks missed almost the whole season. Fortunately, he is already back on the pitch. It’s clear from his previous remarks that he is still quite ambitious, so you can understand why he might feel constrained by his current circumstances. He has only been started in the starting lineup for two league games by Iraola, and he has spent the other seven times on the bench.
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The relative table positions of Southampton and Leeds add another level of complexity to this specific transfer war, thus the result could play a particularly important role in determining the nature of this season’s promotion campaign.
