Ask any Leeds fan which player they’d least like to lose, and the answer is probably Ethan Ampadu. Ask the same fan how they’d feel if Dominic Calvert-Lewin suffered a long-term injury, and the reaction would likely be very similar.
When Calvert-Lewin arrived on a free transfer last summer, the reaction among the fanbase bordered on disbelief. Yours truly was firmly among those not only disappointed by the signing, but genuinely irritated by it.
Having spent large parts of the summer being led down the garden path by Fulham (not for the last time) during Leeds’ pursuit of Rodrigo Muniz, supporters suddenly found themselves told that the club’s striker solution was Lukas Nmecha and Calvert-Lewin on free transfers.
Try explaining to the fanbase that after being willing to spend upwards of £35 million on Muniz, Leeds were now apparently content heading into a Premier League season with two free-agent forwards.
The concerns weren’t without foundation either. Calvert-Lewin arrived following a torrid period at Everton where his body seemed to be failing him almost constantly. His injury record was alarming, while his goal output had collapsed:
– 3 Premier League goals in 2024/25.
– 7 Premier League goals the season before.
As I sit writing this on the morning of Leeds United’s final Premier League game of the season, it’s fair to say Calvert-Lewin has emphatically silenced his critics. According to FotMob, Calvert-Lewin heads into the final day with:
– 2657 Premier League minutes.
– 34 Premier League appearances.
– 14 Premier League goals.
– 3rd overall for xG.
– 1 England cap.
– Arguably unfortunate not to be heading to the World Cup.
Leeds, however, cannot afford complacency. This season has been phenomenal, but the club must learn from the ghosts of the Radrizzani era and strengthen from a position of stability rather than desperation.
While both Calvert-Lewin and Nmecha have enjoyed remarkably good fitness this season, there is absolutely no guarantee that remains the case next year. And if Leeds’ pursuit of Jørgen Strand Larsen during the January 2026 window tells us anything, it’s that the recruitment department are fully aware of the same concern.
With Joel Piroe entering the final year of his contract, and seemingly edging towards pastures new, the need for another striker is becoming increasingly obvious. The key question now becomes this: do Leeds look to replace Calvert-Lewin with a similar profile, or do they pursue an entirely different type of striker capable of changing the tactical dynamics of the side?
The Mexican Destroyer: Santiago Giménez
The core question we need to address is this:
Is Giménez actually a bad striker? Or has he simply landed in the wrong environment?
I’ll admit, I’ve been a huge fan of Santiago Giménez for quite some time. When AC Milan signed him during the January 2025 window, I resigned myself to the fact that Leeds United would probably never have a realistic shot at him again. Then came Milan vs Leeds at the Aviva Stadium last summer. Giménez scored, and instead of annoyance, my overwhelming reaction was envy. The dangerous kind of football envy where you immediately start imagining what a player like that would look like under the lights at Elland Road. Naturally, any rational Leeds fan would now ask why I’m advocating for a striker who has produced exactly zero goals and zero assists in Serie A this season. A player whose struggles in Milan have become so pronounced that the club already seem open to selling him. But to understand why I still find Giménez so fascinating as a recruitment opportunity, we need to rewind the story slightly.
The thing that keeps pulling me back towards Giménez is that I’m not convinced the player has suddenly become rubbish overnight.
At Feyenoord he looked like one of the most dangerous young strikers in Europe. Not because he was producing outrageous moments of individual brilliance every week, but because everything about the way Feyenoord played suited him. They attacked quickly, created chances in volume and constantly put defenders under pressure inside their own penalty area. And Giménez feasted on that. According to FotMob:
2023/24 season – Eredivisie
- 23 goals (3rd overall)
- 6 assists (22nd overall)
- 29 goals and assists (3rd overall)
- 7.59 overall rating (17th overall)
- .87 goals per 90 (5th overall)
- 2.00 shots on target per 90 (3rd overall)
- 29 chances created (9th overall)
- 9 big chances created (22nd overall)
This was a 22 year old striker whose movement across the front line was excellent, who attacked crosses aggressively and who had that annoying knack of appearing in exactly the right place whenever a loose ball dropped in the box. Some strikers score spectacular goals. Giménez scores the sort that centre-backs absolutely hate conceding. You know those ones you’ve seen at Elland Road – you sit there with a stunned expression and think “that can’t count surely?” And then move on to calling your entire defence shit.
The Serie A problem
The problem is that Milan has been a completely different experience. The difficulty is that Serie A asks very different questions of its strikers. Space disappears quickly, defenders are tactically excellent and attacks often become slower and more structured. For some forwards that isn’t an issue. For others it can become a brutal league. Especially at a club like AC Milan, where the pressure to succeed is enormous. I’m not convinced it was ever a natural fit for Giménez.
Serie A is a brutal league for forwards who rely on instinct and rhythm. Defenders are clever, teams are compact and space disappears quickly. Every attack feels a little more structured and a little less chaotic. For some strikers that’s perfect. For Giménez, I’m not convinced it is.
It’s also worth looking at Noah Okafor for evidence of this. Okafor struggled to adapt to the confines of Serie A and came to Leeds with a pretty underwhelming record. Fast-forward twelve months and Okafor goes down as a major success for the recruitment department in LS11, finishing the season with 8 goals and a World Cup call up for Switzerland. Does this mean Giménez is likely to succeed in the Premier League? Absolutely not. Football isn’t that simple. But it also goes a long way to explain why he might not be the busted flush that some people believe he may be. And it serves as a reminder that context matters. Sometimes players fail because they’re not good enough. Sometimes they fail because they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. My suspicion is that Giménez falls into the second category.
Why Leeds might actually suit him more
Speaking purely hypothetically, I think Leeds will be looking for a different profile to Dominic Calvert-Lewin this summer. They won’t be searching for a striker who will drop into midfield and dictate play. They aren’t looking for somebody to spray passes around the pitch or spend half the game with his back to goal. They’re looking for someone who can hurt teams in the penalty area.
Watch some of Gimenez’s best goals and a pattern quickly emerges. More often than not, they come from a game that’s become stretched, a defence that’s lost its shape, or a loose ball that drops in the box. That’s where Giménez tends to do his best work. His goal at the Aviva against Leeds last summer immediately springs to mind.
This is where things become interesting from a Leeds perspective. If Milan still believed they had the same player who terrorised defences in the Eredivisie, there would be no conversation to have. The only reason Leeds could realistically explore a deal is because his stock has fallen so dramatically. The question is whether that’s because the player has declined, or because he’s found himself in a situation that simply doesn’t suit him. Despite his struggles in Serie A, I believe that Giménez retains multiple elite striker traits:
- penalty-box movement,
- he’s quick (not rapid)
- instinctive finishing,
- and high-level off-ball intelligence.
POSITIONAL PROFILE
Best Position
- Centre-forward
Other Roles
- Strike partner in a front two
- Left-sided forward
- Outlet on the counter-attack
PLAYSTYLE
Giménez isn’t the sort of striker who’s going to spend large parts of the game dropping into midfield and knitting attacks together. Nor is he a player who wants endless touches of the ball before making something happen. His game is much simpler than that. He wants to play on the shoulder of the last defender, attack the penalty area and finish chances. Watch the chance at 1:35 of the above game against Leeds to see how he operates in between both centre backs.
The Mexican is at his most dangerous when games become stretched and defences start retreating towards their own goal. Give him space to run into, bodies arriving around him and a bit of chaos in the box, and he suddenly becomes a real handful.
Watch his goals at Feyenoord and certain patterns emerge time and time again. Near-post runs. Loose balls dropping kindly in the area. Early crosses into dangerous areas. Cut-backs pulled across the six-yard box. He’s a striker who seems to have a natural feel for where the danger is going to develop before everyone else. That’s where he does his best work.
MOVEMENT
If there’s one reason to remain optimistic about Giménez, it’s his movement.
Even during a difficult spell in Italy, the fundamentals of his game still appear to be there. He continues to make clever runs across defenders, attack the near post aggressively and find pockets of space inside the penalty area. The goals may have dried up, but many of the habits that made him so effective at Feyenoord haven’t disappeared.
That’s important because when a striker truly starts to decline, the warning signs often show up long before the goalscoring numbers do. The sharp movement becomes less sharp. The timing goes. The yard of pace disappears. The instinct to arrive in the right place at the right time starts to fade. I don’t really see that with Giménez. What I see is a player who looks short on confidence and short on form, but still possesses many of the same qualities that made him one of the most sought-after young strikers in Europe only a couple of years ago. He is desperately in need of a fresh start.
What I Like About Him
- Finding space inside the penalty area
- Clever movement across defenders
- Near-post runs
- Finishing first-time opportunities
- Attacking crosses and cut-backs
- Sniffing out loose balls and rebounds
Where He Needs To Improve
- Holding the ball up with his back to goal
- Linking play outside the box
- Picking difficult final passes
- Influencing games when service is limited
- Creating chances for himself
- Dictating the tempo of attacks
This is worth bearing in mind when discussing his fit at Leeds.
If you’re expecting Giménez to drop into midfield, spray passes around and act as the focal point for every attack, you’ll probably be disappointed. That’s simply not his game.
What he does bring is movement, penalty-box instinct and a genuine eye for goal. Leeds wouldn’t be signing him to conduct the orchestra. They’d be signing him to put the ball in the back of the net.
TACTICAL FIT — LEEDS UNITED
What He Improves
1. Penalty-box presence
Another striker who lives for scoring goals inside the six-yard box.
2. Finishing on the break
He’s at his best when games open up and defenders are forced to turn towards their own goal.
3. Movement off the ball
His runs create problems for defenders and open space for others around him.
4. Intensity
He plays with an aggression and energy that would likely go down well at Elland Road.
MAJOR STRENGTHS
1. Movement in the box
Finding space in the box where it matters most comes naturally to him.
2. Suited to quick attacks
His best football tends to come when teams move the ball forward quickly and attack with purpose.
3. Age
At 25, he should still have his best years ahead of him.
4. Opportunity
Milan’s willingness to listen to offers could create an opening that wouldn’t have existed a couple of years ago.
CONCERNS
1. Reliant on service
He needs:
- crosses,
- runners around him,
- and chances being created.
He’s a finisher rather than a creator.
2. Confidence
Like many strikers, he looks like a player who feeds off momentum. A long goal drought could become a concern.
3. Adapting to the Premier League
There would be obvious question marks around how quickly he could adjust to:
- stronger defenders,
- a more physical league,
- and fewer clear-cut chances.
FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT
The biggest factor in any potential deal will be Milan’s willingness to cut their losses.
With so much upheaval at Milan this summer, the Italian giants might decide that Giménez isn’t part of their long-term plans. Indeed, it appeared his exit was on the cards before the January transfer window, and the rumours have only intensified since. Leeds could now find themselves with an opportunity that simply wouldn’t have existed a couple of years ago. We’re talking about a striker who was one of the most sought-after young forwards in Europe during his time at Feyenoord. At €18m his value has now sunk to the lowest it’s been since the beginning of the 2023/24 season when Giménez announced himself to the top leagues. Milan will find it difficult to recoup the money spent signing him from Feyenoord.
The question for Leeds is whether they believe the player struggling in Milan is the real Santiago Giménez, or whether his difficulties in Italy have created an opportunity to sign a better player than his recent numbers suggest.
MY FINAL THOUGHT
Would Santiago Giménez be a risk? Absolutely. But recruitment isn’t about finding players with no risk attached. If it was, Leeds wouldn’t be shopping in this market.
The question is whether the club believe the player we saw at Feyenoord is still there beneath the poor form and lack of confidence. Personally, I think he is. Ultimately, Giménez feels like a gamble worth considering.
The goals have dried up, his confidence appears to have taken a hit and there are obvious question marks surrounding his time in Italy. But when I watch him, I still see a striker with excellent movement, sharp instincts around the penalty area and a real eye for goal.
That doesn’t mean a move to Leeds would definitely work. Far from it.
But if the club believe the player who terrorised defences at Feyenoord is still in there somewhere, there is a compelling case for taking a closer look. Under the right circumstances, Leeds could end up signing a far better striker than his recent record would suggest.
