Leeds: Farke may have discovered the new Raphinha in a 5 feet 7 Elland Road ‘horror’
The gifted winger has made an excellent start to the current Championship season.
Leeds United were relegated from the Premier League and relegated to the Championship after a dismal 2022/23 season.
The Whites spent three seasons in the Premier League after being promoted from the second division by Marcelo Bielsa at the end of the 2019/20 season.
They failed to attain safety in the third season, and they lacked a continuous creative threat at the top of the pitch throughout the year after Brazilian winger Raphinha left for Barcelona.
The Spanish giants swooped in to sign the gifted ace for an undisclosed amount.
Last season, who had the most assists for Leeds?
While on loan with Fulham, Jack Harrison finished the 2022/23 season with the most assists for Leeds, tallying seven in the Premier League.
The former Manchester City prospect averaged 1.5 critical passes per game for the Whites, while no other player in the squad averaged more than 1.3.
Raphinha had ten ‘big chances’ created and 1.9 critical passes per match during the 2021/22 Premier League season.
During his first season in English football, the Brazil international displayed exceptional creativity. Across 26 Premier League starts, he assisted nine goals and created 12 ‘big opportunities’ for his teammates, while also averaging 2.1 critical passes per game.
These statistics illustrate that Leeds lost his creative quality last season when they were relegated to the Championship without a player who could consistently open up the opposition’s defense as Raphinha did for the club.
How many opportunities has James created so far this season?
James has generated 13 chances for his teammates in six Championship games this season, including one as a substitute.
No Leeds player has made more vital passes per game than him.
These statistics imply that James has been able to step up his game at a lower level in the Championship, while he found it difficult to consistently offer quality for the Whites in the top division.
However, at the age of 25, the Welsh jewel still has plenty of time to develop and improve in order to achieve Raphinha-like levels of innovation in the future.
Farke, who has worked with players like Emiliano Buendia, James Maddison, and Todd Cantwell to help them progress, might work with James to help him take the next step in his career.
How did James fare this season?
Along with his assists, the former Red Devils speedster has an impressive Sofascore rating of 7.42 in his six Championship games.
Only Crysencio Summerville (7.68) has a higher Sofascore rating than the 25-year-old ace, who has produced five ‘big chances’ for his colleagues.
This demonstrates that James has emerged as one of Farke’s finest players in the division so far this season and is beginning to establish his worth two years after joining Elland Road from Manchester United for £25 million.
How many assists did James have for Swansea City?
His inventiveness isn’t a passing fad, too, as the fast wizard racked up ten assists in 39 games for Swansea during his stint in Wales.
He had four goals and nine assists in 33 appearances for the Swans in the 2018/19 Championship season, demonstrating his ability to often break open the opposition’s defense.
According to FBref, James was in the top 9% of his positional peers in the second tier for shot-creating actions (4.61) per 90 and the top 16% for assists (0.25) per 90.
The 5 foot 7 dynamo, whom pundit Micah Richards once described as a “nightmare,” also demonstrated his exceptional ability to carry the ball up the pitch for Swansea, ranking within the top 2% of players in his position for progressive carries (6.55) per 90. This was also a strength of Raphinha’s, as the Brazilian hotshot ranked within the top 5% of his positional peers in the Premier League for progressive carries (3.89) per 90 during the 2020
Throughout his professional career, the current Leeds speedster, who was once dubbed “electric” by international teammate Joe Allen, has never scored more than four league goals in a single season.
Buendia, on the other hand, had never scored more than six league goals in a season before joining Norwich to work with Farke, and he went on to score eight in his first Championship season before an amazing 15 goals from out wide in his second season at that level under the German manager.
This shows that the Leeds manager has the coaching skills to enhance his wingers’ goal scoring output, and if he can do so with James, he may be able to find the club’s replacement for Raphinha.
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