Marcelo just needs goals

LEEDS UNITED must take one more gamble to make their Premier League dream come true.

Head coach Marcelo Bielsa has asked for a top striker to be added to his squad – and, if the club deliver, it will end their 16-year, top-flight exile.

A cautious club would look at their current position in the league – comfortably in the top two and ahead of the play-off places – and conclude the cash could be saved.

In fact, their performance in the FA Cup at Arsenal – full of intensity, vitality and squeezing space – suggests that even this Leeds team could hold their own with the Premier League elite.

They could well have enough leeway to reach the top flight without new blood, if Patrick Bamford stays fit, energy levels can be sustained and they get a bit of luck – which they did not get yesterday with Sheffield Wednesday’s two late goals.

But the best clubs build from a position of strength and recruitment chief Victor Orta, who speaks to Bielsa daily, has to deliver a ready-made line-leader and goal-getter to seal promotion.

The Argentine coach has bemoaned Leeds’ lack of finishing power during this campaign. Patrick Bamford is leading scorer with 10 goals and continues to be the No.1 pick because Bielsa trusts his discipline to press defenders.

Eddie Nketiah is level with Jack Harrison on five goals, but has been recalled from his loan by Arsenal, leaving Leeds a man down and needing to spend.

Southampton’s £15million Che Adams is high on the wanted list and Leeds can’t afford that pursuit to end with tears of despair in the boardroom like last January when Dan James’ transfer collapsed on deadline day.

Leeds have taken some brave punts in the last couple of seasons, the biggest one was in appointing Bielsa (right). One more is needed to maintain momentum and achieve the goal they’ve chased so long.