Leeds United have made a strong start to life back in the Premier League, with seven points from their opening five league games. It has helped them to get over the mistakes they made during the transfer window, when they missed out on a couple of top targets.
The Leeds recruitment team were under pressure last summer to build a squad that would be good enough to survive in the Premier League and break the recent trend of promoted teams struggling to survive in their first season back in the top flight.
They ended up spending more than £100m on ten new players. However, a bad end to the transfer window hogged all the limelight, and the club faced the heat from the fans for missing out on some of their top targets.
Igor Paixao is one of the high-profile deals that Leeds failed to complete as the Brazilian chose Marseille instead of Elland Road. However, it seems the Whites have dodged making a major transfer mistake in the summer.
The Leeds United target is struggling at his new club
Leeds chased Paixao and believed that he would have been a game-changing signing in the summer. However, the Brazilian had his heart set on a move to Marseille, despite the Whites trying to change his mind.
The Yorkshire giants had a deal worth £30m in place with Feyenoord, but ultimately, the player only wanted to join the French giants in the summer.
Leeds eventually signed winger Noah Okafor a month later, but Paixao was their top target in the last transfer window. However, it seems the club dodged a bullet.
Paixao was already dealing with a muscle injury when he joined Marseille and missed the first three league games. He played 20-odd minutes against Real Madrid in the Champions League and two more appearances against Lorient and Paris Saint-Germain.
The winger has not looked good in his first few appearances, and he is still trying to build back his fitness after recovering from his injury.
Better performances could follow, but at this point, it seems Leeds dodged a bullet by failing to sign Paixao, and it could have been a very expensive mistake.
Okafor looks like the better deal
Leeds paid somewhere around £18m to sign Okafor from AC Milan in the summer, and there were question marks around him when he arrived.
The winger struggled with injuries last season and played very little football in his loan spell at Napoli in the latter half of the 2024/25 campaign.
Okafor provided glimpses of his talent in the 1-0 defeat at Fulham, but fully came out against Wolves, where he scored and was a constant menace.
He earned praise for his performances, and the former AC Milan winger is looking like the real deal for the Yorkshire giants.
It seems the pivot to Okafor from Paixao would be seen as a major turning point for Leeds in the near future.
Can you name these 10 former Leeds United midfielders?
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Sorry, but if they offered us a swap, I would take it. No offense to Okafor who is a good player but Paixao is class and form is temporary.