Leeds United have to take brutal Patrick Bamford stance after promotion dream shatters: View | OneFootball

Daniel Farke has some big decisions to make as he shapes his Leeds United squad for a huge 2024/25 Championship campaign.

The Whites just missed out on promotion back to the Premier League on May 26, losing 1-0 to Southampton in the play-off final despite finishing third and three points above the Saints in the regular season.

Leeds boasted the second-best defensive record in the division for 2023/24, but netted fewer league goals than Leicester, Ipswich, and Southampton throughout the campaign, with Crysencio Summerville their highest scorer with 19 goals.

Farke's side missed a consistent, out-and-out striker as Patrick Bamford picked up injuries and was restricted to just 15 league starts all season, which cost Leeds in the key moments when they needed a player with his pedigree to step up.

The one-time England international is now 30 years old and has seen his influence on the Whites slowly wane every year since his fantastic 2020/21 Premier League campaign.

Boss Farke now needs to take a ruthless stance on his future at the club and admit that Bamford is not the man to trust to take them back to the top flight, as his availability and form is too sporadic for Leeds to pin their hopes on him going forward.

Bamford had a tough season

Bamford's previous Championship record speaks for itself, after hitting double-figures in the league with Middlesbrough in 2014/15 and 2017/18, and with Leeds in their title-winning side of 2019/20.

He endured tough 2021/22 and 2022/23 campaigns, and was tipped to leave Elland Road last summer but stuck around and became a firm part of Farke's preseason plans, with the German hoping he could "score several goals" if he stayed "fit and full of confidence".

He began the season in the worst way possible after a hamstring injury in a friendly against Hearts ruled him out of the first eight league games of the campaign.

His first outing of the season came against Southampton on September 30th, and he was restricted to 16 league appearances off the bench in the next 17 games, missing the chance to net his first goal in nearly six months as he blazed a late penalty against Stoke City over the bar on October 25.

Farke handed him his first start of the campaign on New Year's Day against Birmingham, and Bamford repaid his faith by scoring the opener, which then set him on a run of seven in his next 12 games as the Whites stepped up their fight with Ipswich for second place.

That purple patch was as good as it got for the 30-year-old though and he could muster just one more goal from his next seven games before a knee injury against former club Middlesbrough ruled him out of the final two league games of the regular season.

Leeds had to settle for the play-offs and Bamford was unavailable when his side needed him most - he sat out of both semi-finals and the final as Farke's men came up short when needing a goal at Wembley.

It is pretty clear that Bamford is not the player he once was and that if Leeds are to harbour any hopes of promotion in 2024/25, a new striker will have to be signed so that they are not relying on his inconsistent form and fitness to fire them back to the top-flight.

Leeds are chasing a new striker

There is undoubtedly set to be a bigger focus on outgoings rather than incomings at Elland Road this summer, with a raft of key players set to leave the club following failure to win promotion.

That does mean that Leeds will have money to spend though and they have already been tentatively linked with multiple new forwards that could lead the line ahead of Bamford in Farke's new-look side next season.

The Sunday Mirror (19/0, p70) has reported that Leeds are among the clubs keen on Norwich City forward Josh Sargent - he netted 16 goals in 26 Championship appearances for Norwich this past season as they finished sixth and is no stranger to Farke after he signed him as Canaries boss back in 2021.

HITC has claimed that Sheffield United forward Daniel Jebbison is one of Leeds' main transfer targets heading into the summer, as they look to add "extended physicality and youth to the squad, especially in the striking department".

The 20-year-old is out of contract at Bramall Lane this season and HITC's report suggests that he will leave the club for free after failing to agree new terms.

Leeds are clearly in the market for a striker, and it seems as if Bamford's time as their main goalscorer would be over if a new striker joins the club this summer, which is a decision that would be in the best interests of the club going forward.

His body keeps letting him down time and again, and he is simply too unreliable for Farke to put his faith in him to lead the line week-in, week-out next season.