Worse than Perri: Leeds dud is one of their worst signings in PL history

Even worse than Perri: One of Leeds’ worst acquisitions in Premier League history

Leeds United will need to learn from the past if they decide to let go of an underperforming Daniel Farke in the near future. It wasn’t always a good idea to fire an under-pressure manager in the Premier League, as was evident following the departure of Marcelo Bielsa, who, like the German, lifted the Championship title aloft.

In fact, a succession of managers, including Sam Allardyce, Javi Gracia, and Jesse Marsch, failed, leading to relegation. The West Yorkshire giants would then sign Farke to take over, although even he would be aware that his job security is now in jeopardy given his four Premier League losses from his previous five league games. Farke’s terrible record in the top division—only nine victories from 60 games—does little to lift Leeds’ spirits as they hover just one point above the dreaded drop zone.

Leeds spent £98 million on a number of erratic acquisitions throughout the summer, which may not have helped him. When compared to fellow promoted team Sunderland, who are eight points ahead of Leeds, the West Yorkshire team’s spending power was somewhat overshadowed by the £162 million spent. Even still, Leeds’ own noteworthy business has garnered some attention. Noah Okafor, who left AC Milan for a new Premier League adventure, is already two goals behind while wearing his new white strip.

Journalist Daniel Storey even went so far as to praise Leeds’ acquisition of Sean Longstaff for just £12 million as “one of the best signings in the Premier League,” much like Sunderland did when they acquired Premier League experience centrally with Granit Xhaka. Unfortunately, though, Leeds has also suffered from some lacklustre additions from the recent summer, including Lucas Perri, who stands out as an expensive mistake already in goal, as they have become accustomed to in recent years when acquiring duds like Luis Sinisterra and Rasmus Kristensen.

Pundit Adrian Clarke said last season that the error-prone Frenchman “has to go” if Premier League action was back on the schedule. Even the most casual observer of the Championship last season would have known that Leeds were far from satisfied with the number of mistakes Illan Meslier was making in goal during a crucial promotion run-in. The Championship winners followed Clarke’s advice, and all indications suggested that acquiring Meslier’s replacement in Perri for £13.9 million from Lyon was a wise financial move given that Meslier’s fellow countryman had an encouraging ten Ligue 1 clean sheets prior to moving to England.

Unfortunately, though, Perri has mostly crumbled under the intense pressure of being close to the bottom of the Premier League. Journalist Graham Smyth praised him for his “superb” goalkeeping after he clawed away a goal-bound effort against Nottingham Forest, but these moments are frequently followed by moments of Meslier-like indecision. As a result, among other alarming figures, Perri has already allowed 12 goals from six Premier League games, and the exceptional ‘keeper they believed they had acquired from Lyon has not yet emerged.

The fact that Perri, who was acquired for an expensive £13.9 million, doesn’t appear to be a significant improvement over his former Lorient counterpart is a major worry. Former Leeds player Jon Newsome even went so far as to call Perri a “waste of funds” following the devastating 3-1 loss to Nottingham Forest. The Tricky Trees had a field day against the ropey Brazilian after journalist Adonis Storr publicly criticised Perri, saying that he “parries straight to opponents” every time.

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