Leeds United completely revamped their frontline on their return to the Premier League last season. In their promotion campaign, Daniel Farke coached one of the best attacking units in the Championship.
The Whites managed to score 95 league goals and had seven players with 10 or more goal involvements.
Leeds were left by an attacking front four of Manor Solomon, Dan James, Brenden Aaronson and Joel Piroe. Aaronson had his best ever season with the Whites, while Piroe won the golden boot.
Unfortunately those four players never got to start a game together in the top flight.
Solomon left after his loan deal, and the other players were all replaced in the first team.
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Leeds United were not a good attacking unit last year, and only managed to win points by being a conservative side.
Farke’s men were a very structured side that denied opponents from creating dangerous chances. They made most of their attacking sequences via transitions and set-pieces.
Dan James failed to score a goal last season, and Aaronson was deployed mainly in midfield.
Joel Piroe lost his place in the first team after Leeds signed Lukas Nmecha and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. This saw him slip down the pecking order, and he was limited to cameos in cup competitions.
Going into the new season, his future was uncertain after he declared that he wanted to stay.
Over the weekend, West Ham made their approach official after the striker featured against Augsburg on Saturday.
Leeds United have given striker Joel Piroe permission to travel to West Ham for a medical. The #LUFC striker is expected to travel this evening ahead of finalising an initial loan move which includes an obligation to buy. (@AnthonyRJoseph & @chrisreidy1) https://t.co/MIjBapRAwn
— Zinny Boswell (@ZinnyBoswell) August 17, 2026
As of Monday, the details of the deal have emerged, reported by Sky Sports sources including Zinny Boswell. Piroe has been given the green light to travel to complete his medical.
The transfer will be an initial loan with an obligation to buy.
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49ers have done fantastic work with departures this summer
The fanbase have criticized Leeds for not being able to offload players over the last few years.
But this summer has seen the club make big strides in selling first team players.
The club have gotten rid of Max Wober and Jack Harrison, who were big earners at the club. Leeds were able to get decent transfer fees from moving Pascal Struijk and Isaac Schmidt.
They also managed to sell Joe Gelhardt this summer and could now complete the the transfer of Joel Piroe.
Leeds are going in the right direction and have a very clear future ahead of them.
How does a loan deal work? He has one year left on his contract! After that he is a free agent.
If they have an “obligation to buy” rather than an option they have effectively bought him now, but have deferred payment. The only issue seems to be the condition in the deal regarding them achieving promotion. That might be a problem,
If they get promoted it will be a “fantastic” move for Piroe. Otherwise he is back where he was, battling to get out of a division that doesn’t like to let teams go once it has got them.