This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
Mateusz Klich’s Leeds career already feels like it’s come full circle.
Sent out on loan by Thomas Christiansen after a disappointing start to life at Elland Road, it was a slip against Cardiff that at first proved damning.
He lost possession and Kenneth Zohore would eventually go onto score.
By the time January had come around, he was at FC Twente and it looked as though his career at the club was done before it had even had a chance to get underway.
Yet, step forward Marcelo Bielsa. The Argentine revived his career in west Yorkshire as the creative freedom he was granted saw him become one of the most threatening players in the Championship.
In 2018/19, he scored ten times and also laid on nine assists, falling just short of Pablo Hernandez’s tally of 24 goal involvements.
Linked with Burnley in the summer, it was hardly a surprise to see the Premier League swooping around his services. After all, a stellar season in England’s second-tier usually attracts interest.
But in more recent times, there has been talk of a potential new contract. It would be a fine reward for his form last term and he does deserve it.
This season, however, he’s been a shadow of the player that lit up the division just a matter of months ago. His confidence looks short and if anything, he’s starting to become a one-season wonder.
Klich has only scored twice in all competitions this season and the 29-year-old turned in one of his worst performances of the season to date against Millwall.
It drew criticism from supporters as his form has started to become a real worry. Without the injured Hernandez the creative burden has fallen on the shoulders of the £2.25m-rated Polish midfielder but he’s failing to deliver.
The Pole didn’t register a single key pass at the Den, a damning statistic considering he’s averaged 2.4 of them per game in 2019/20.
He’s become a victim of Leeds’ poor finishing, though, and he hasn’t picked up an assist since the second week of the term.
Klich’s influence has been dwindling and his lack of involvement in goals is fine evidence of that. There is significantly less threat to his play and a penalty miss against Derby a few weeks ago appears to have had a negative impact.
It seems as if when the team plays well he does – completing three key passes against West Brom.
Yet, versus Charlton and Derby, there was just one key pass in both matches. The fact Leeds picked up just one point from that says a lot.
He must get better.
