"Can’t help but wonder" - Leeds United transfer claim issued on the back of Brenden Aaronson showings | OneFootball

FLW's Leeds United fan pundit has had his say on the decision to have Brenden Aaronson as the only specialist attacking midfielder at the club.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Since selling Georginio Rutter to Brighton in the summer, Leeds United have had two separate transfer windows to sign a replacement and failed to do so.

It's no secret that Leeds have looked at playmakers previously. Following the conclusion of the summer window, Leeds' chief executive Angus Kinnear revealed that the club had pursued ambitious swoops for James McAtee and Fabio Carvalho from Manchester City and Liverpool respectively.

He also outlined Emi Buendia as a player of interest, with Football Insider also reporting that the Whites were still keen on making their swoop for Buendia in January, having failed to land his services last summer. Nothing materialised, leaving Leeds with Brenden Aaronson as the primary option in the central attacking midfield role of Farke's 4-2-3-1.

However, no added competition in that area of the pitch has left Leeds without a natural playmaker, even if they have the likes of Aaronson, Joel Piroe, Willy Gnonto, and co. who can operate centrally behind a number nine. Aaronson has taken the lion's share of minutes behind Piroe or Mateo Joseph, but his numbers are not his numbers are not particularly impressive this term.

The USMNT international has scored eight and assisted a further two goals. The latter statistic is where Leeds may have been hoping for an alternative option in a creative sense.

In terms of assists, there are numerous players with more in the Championship, including teammates Piroe, Gnonto, Junior Firpo, Manor Solomon, and Dan James. While Tom Fellows leads the way with 11.

His 4.3xA (expected assists) figure highlights that he has perhaps been somewhat unlucky to not have more. That said, it is far below the five most creative players who have all put up over 6.5 at this stage in the campaign. James leads the division on that front with 7.4.

The verdict on Brenden Aaronson as Leeds United's primary attacking midfielder amid lack of January signing

We asked FLW’s Leeds United fan pundit Kris Smith for his thoughts on the situation with Aaronson, especially after an impressive display against Watford, in spite of not scoring or assisting. We asked him if Leeds should regret signing a playmaker in the market last month based on that.

Kris told Football League World: "Brenden Aaronson has been terrific this season and I wasn’t expecting him to have such an impact after coming back from his loan spell.

"He’s scoring a lot of goals and contributing to overall play, but you still can’t help but wonder what another creative No.10 would be doing in this starting line-up.

"You do think, when you look at this Leeds team, about whether we had someone with a better eye for a pass around the edge of the box.

"You can be fairly certain that they’d have more than Aaronson’s two assists, which just isn’t good enough from a No.10, really, especially in the best side in the league.

"I do think that, given we are the best side in the league, that we have more than enough in an attacking sense to be okay without that signing from January.

"We have the best attack in the league by a mile, at the moment. When you look at how many chances we create and how many we are putting away as well.

Having said that, looking ahead to the summer — and hopefully that’s promotion — the No.10 is a position that I do think has to be a priority for Leeds, and I mean in terms of putting a lot of money aside in the budget towards making that signing."

A player who could operate as a central or attacking midfielder would have been of huge benefit in the winter window, as they looked for a player with both creativity and eye for goal as well as his link-up play that could be the difference in the final third for Leeds.

It would also help in providing Leeds and Farke with a different type of midfield profile. Aaronson has scored at a reasonable rate but creativity via more of a natural playmaker would be of huge benefit when breaking down teams sat deep and compact in a lower block, which Leeds do not always have the answers for.

Every team is looking for difference-makers and statement signings. Leeds signing Buendia would have sent a clear statement to the rest of the Championship, for example, as he is a match-winner with the X-factor needed to be a big differential in the final third in the second tier.

Outside of the obvious issues in goal, the area of greatest weakness for Leeds remains the lack of genuine creative threats in the forward line. Leeds will hope that it doesn't cost them in any of the final 14 games.