The £10m winger who could thrill and frustrate Leeds United in equal measure

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Leeds United are set to sign a daring young winger who came through the ranks at Manchester United - but can he replace Crysencio Summerville?

Leeds United are just a few formalities away from making winger Largie Ramazani their latest summer signing – at last, the money made from the sale of players like Georginio Rutter, Luis Sinisterra and Crysencio Summerville is being reinvested in a depleted attacking line. But can Ramazani fill the void on the left flank created by Summerville’s departure?

The 23-year-old, who came through the academy system at Manchester United before moving to current club Almería and has represented Belgium at Under-21 level, will cost Leeds around £10m according to the Yorkshire Evening Post. It’s a significant fee by Championship standards, even if it looks rather less substantial compared with the money earned from player sales this summer – and Ramazani may have to up his productivity levels to pay it back. So far in his career, he has been electrifying and frustrating in equal measure.

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A right-footed left winger, Ramazani stands out as a pacey, risk-taking wide player who is always looking to take players on and cut into the box, aided by quick feet, a sharp turn of acceleration and a low centre of gravity – at just 5’6” tall, Largie doesn’t live up to his name. He’s forever looking to throw his man for a loop with a trick or a turn and while his success rate on the dribble is relatively modest (41.9% last season), he tries it on so often that he will inevitably break through and get into dangerous areas several times a game.

It's that willingness to run with the ball – he very rarely looks for the pass when the dribble is on – that can make him thrilling to watch when he’s at his best. On his day, he’ll twist defenders inside out and slalom into the box at pace, darting between tackles and finding space to shoot. But there is a definite lack of consistency in his game, and he will frequently get stood up by defenders when there were easier and perhaps more sensible options available to him.

So is all that freewheeling dribbling worth it? It could be if he sharpens his game in front of goal, but right now his finishing isn’t necessarily at the level Leeds might want. Summerville scored 19 league goals from the left wing last season, but Ramazani only managed three for Almería in each of the last two campaigns. Playing for a side that were battling against relegation (a battle they ultimately lost) won’t have helped his numbers, but there’s evidence that he needs to improve inside the penalty area.

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For each of the last three seasons, including the 2021/22 campaign when he bagged eight in the Spanish second tier as Almería earned promotion to La Liga, Ramazani has undershot his expected goals – those 14 league goals came at a total xG of 19.8. There are plenty of examples of him getting into promising positions only to scuff his shot, and he tends to go for power rather than precision when through on goal.

He isn’t an assist machine, either. He set up five goals last season, which is perfectly respectable under the circumstances but well short of the kind of numbers Rutter was putting up before he moved to Brighton & Hove Albion for a reported £40m. In other words, while he can stretch the field and dazzle defenders in his best moments, he is unlikely to put up the raw number of goal contributions that we saw from the departed heroes of last season.

There is also one final flaw with Ramazani’s game which may need addressing – his discipline. He was sent off twice last season, and neither was necessary. Against Athletic Club, he was twice booked for pulling opponents back, and then when he was shown two more yellow cards against Villarreal later in the season, he went off on a foul-mouthed rant at the referee, earning himself a five-match ban. In total, he has racked up 30 bookings in four seasons at his current club, and it may be telling that he committed twice as many fouls as he drew last season despite all that quick running at defenders.

Ramazani is, of course, still young and has plenty of room to develop his game, fine-tune his finishing and decision-making and to mature and learn to control his more aggressive instincts on the pitch, but as it stands he is more of a ‘moments’ player rather than a consistent threat in the final third, and a player who will probably be a piece of the puzzle for Leeds rather than the focal point of the front three. But there is undoubted talent there, and a sense of fun and flair which will endear him to the Elland Road faithful if he gets it right more often than not. It’s now down to Ramazani to ensure that he does so just a little more often than he has done in recent seasons.

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