Sam Allardyce casts damning Leeds United transfer verdict but opportunity exists for new faces

Sam Allardyce's verdict on and his use of Rutter comes as a final damning indictment on Leeds' January transfer window.

It was always curious, last summer, that the profiles of the strikers the now-departed Victor Orta targeted held such variance. Charles De Ketelaere, courted for so many weeks of the summer - 'the icing on the cake' as Andrea Radrizzani put it - had been described as a Swiss Army Knife of a forward. Versatile in the extreme, able to play across the front line and used as a nine but not in the traditional targetman sense. The Belgian, of course, plumped for Milan over Leeds. He is yet to score this season and has one assist.

Cody Gakpo, chased and considered and then chased intently right at the end of the window, before he and PSV suggested a deal with Leeds was never as close as Leeds believed, plumped for a January move to Liverpool where he has played left wing and up front, but not as a traditional targetman.

With Bamba Dieng it was more of a speed dating thing, Leeds switching attention to him right at the last minute when the Gakpo thing was a bust. Dieng, a small, versatile centre forward with explosive speed and good movement, had his head turned by Nice who hijacked Leeds' deal. The private jet sent to bring him to England did not do so and, incredibly, he failed his medical at Nice anyway.

What Leeds ended up with as a consolation prize turned out to be much more than that, Willy Gnonto proving to be an excellent, bargainous pick-up from Zurich, but of course not the striker that was so badly needed.

And as the first half of the 2022/23 season made it even more plain for all to see that a nine was a January must, Leeds emerged from the winter market with Rutter. It took the club's biggest ever transfer outlay to get him and while they could yet reap handsomely from the deal, his only goal thus far has come in Under 21s football.

The young Frenchman has almost as many Premier League 2 minutes as he does Premier League involvement and Allardyce has all-but indicated that his season is done.

“I don’t know to be honest with you, I have seen him play twice and obviously as a youngster in the position that we’re in here, it’s a next season scenario for him," said Allardyce as he looked ahead to the two games that will decide the club's Premier League status.

"He came in in January and I think that he had such a heavy price tag on his shoulders. But I think that when you are young and you come to the Premier League for the first time, you’ve got to settle in and next season would be the big test for him. Because the whole of the Premier League demands much more than ability to be a Premier League player.”

Rutter might have ability and he certainly has potential but it is now abundantly clear that he does not have what Leeds have required in the here and now. He is not the man to slot in and hold the ball up the way Patrick Bamford does and nor is he yet the goalscorer that Rodrigo has been this season. And as both of those two have had their injury problems, Rutter has not been the solution.

The situation is far from the only one that has cast a certain light on the club's recruitment for this season. When Newcastle came to town last weekend, Rutter was one of four 2022/23 signings on the bench rather than the starting line-up. Only two - Gnonto and Brenden Aaronson - came on. Another two, namely Tyler Adams and Luis Sinisterra, won't play again this season due to injuries that have proven incredibly costly. Both men, had they stayed fit, could have put a more positive spin on the recruitment business for they each represent undoubted ability. Their absences, as a mobile midfield enforcer and a match winner respectively, have not been sufficiently mitigated.

From back to front, Leeds have found issues with new boys as the brutal proving ground of the Premier League has proved, well, brutal.

Rasmus Kristensen lost his place at right-back to veteran Luke Ayling. Marc Roca showed an ability to progress the ball as he and Adams appeared a decent foil for one another, but Roca's form has wavered and a midfield partnership with Weston McKennie did not work. Roca is now injured and Adam Forshaw's pivotal role, despite his injury struggles and lack of 90-minute fitness, speaks far louder than it should about the strength in depth in the middle of the pitch. McKennie himself is yet to light up the English top flight and a permanent move appears unlikely, while Aaronson has looked lightweight, struggled for confidence and has one Premier League goal to his name.

Recruitment is everything, Allardyce said when he arrived, adding that 'some clubs have messed it up, some haven't.' The Premier League table is evidence enough of which category Leeds should consider themselves in. The current boss has described the squad as light. It would need improvement, he says, were he to even consider staying beyond the summer.

The lessons to learn for whoever takes the club forward into next season, are clear. The verdict has already been cast on recruitment but, for two games at least, there is a chance for Leeds to get away with a lighter sentence than the one that would send them down.

And while the likelihood of relegation heroics for Rutter is slim, Kristensen's vital goal against Newcastle showed that opportunities still exist for the fit and remaining summer and January signings to make a telling, late impact. The full-back has moved inside to play centre-back and done a job. Max Wober, last week's penalty area headloss aside, has been solid. Gnonto is a livewire and a potential match winner. Sunday at West Ham will require them all to produce their Leeds United best in a scenario they did not sign up for.