Leeds United recently made Facundo Buonanotte their first addition of the January transfer window, with the Argentinian joining on loan from Brighton until the end of the season.
Leeds supporters are seemingly excited at the prospect of finally getting to see Buonanotte perform in a white shirt at Elland Road, after a deal for the 21-year-old did not come to fruition over the summer.
The youngster gives Daniel Farke another attacking option, who can be deployed on either wing as well as in the number ten role, with the move perhaps suggesting that the German manager will want to revert to the 4-3-3 formation at some point during the second half of the Premier League campaign.
With his move to Leeds confirmed on Thursday evening, Buonanotte gave his first interview as a Leeds United player, making an admission regarding his new club that will surely surprise supporters.
Facundo Buonanotte labels Leeds United as ‘one of the best teams in the Premier League’
Buonanotte will still have to convince some sections of United’s fanbase that he truly wants to be in West Yorkshire, after he snubbed the Whites in favour of joining Chelsea just four months ago.
However, the versatile attacker was saying all the right things in his first interview with LUTV, including making a couple of admissions that will raise a few eyebrows.
“I am very happy to be here,” Buonanotte said.
“I really wanted to come to Leeds instead of anywhere else. The time was right for me to come here to Leeds. I played with Brighton a few seasons ago, and I said to my family, to my teammates, Leeds is one of the best teams in the Premier League for sure.”
Buonanotte continued: “I like to play on the line, score goals and play assists, I like to be between the lines and, of course, score. I want to show the fans my quality and how I can help the team stay in the Premier League.
“I am ready to play, and I hope Saturday we can win.”
If Buonanotte can have a positive impact on the upcoming game against Fulham, all the controversy surrounding his move to Chelsea in the summer will soon be forgotten by those in attendance at Elland Road.
Data suggests Brenden Aaronson is better than Facundo Buonanotte
With Buonanotte arriving, the chances of Leeds lining up with a number 10, as they did so often in the Championship, have drastically increased, with Aaronson finally having some competition for his place in that role.
However, when comparing the data between the two, Aaronson is currently outperforming Buonanotte, whose last spell of regular Premier League gametime came when he was on loan at Leicester City last season.
(Credit: DataMB)
Whilst some aspects of their data are relatively comparable, like their assists and dribbles, Aaronson is far superior to Buonanotte when it comes to providing key passes and non-penalty expected goals and assists.
To caveat this, this Leeds United side are being far more competitive in the Premier League this season than Leicester were last season, and Buonanotte was only 20 at the time.
Hopefully for Leeds supporters, Buonanotte can continue to find his feet in the top flight, with the positive environment surrounding the club at the minute potentially being the key to unlocking the youngster’s full potential, which could prove vital in Leeds’ bid to avoid relegation.
