Leeds United sign Serie A striker Caleb Ekuban

Yet another attacking player has signed for Leeds United. At least Chris Wood can’t complain that he hasn’t got any help this season in the goal scoring department.

Chievo Verona striker Caleb Ekuban signed a deal to join Leeds today. We’ve profiled him a few times before. The Italian born Ghanaian striker has spent almost his entire career on the books of Chievo Verona, but has yet to pull on the shirt in a competitive match, although he did appear on the bench for one of Chievo’s matches against Lazio.

Last year was his most successful spell to date in football, spending the season with FK Partizani Tirana in Albania, where he scored a remarkable 18 goals in 42 total appearances for the club. He played in four Champions League matches and two Europa league matches for the Albanian team, and helped the team qualify for this season’s Europa League as well.

This is a strange transfer, to say the least. Ekuban is 23 years old and looks to be headed into his prime, but his lack of matches for Serie A’s Chievo is a bit troubling. Yeah, he tore up the Albanian league, but it’s not as if he was tearing up the Lega Pro or Primavera, the Italian 3rd division and U23 division respectively. He appeared in over 80 matches in Lega Pro-Girone A, and scored a total of eleven goals. Now while he was a young player in all of those seasons, it is a bit troubling that a player who appears that couldn’t get a loan move to a Serie B side is all of a sudden a surprise signing for Leeds.

Time will tell if the Ekuban is worth the hype or if he fails to pan out. Either way, it’s good to see the club looking for new players and new strikers to add to the fold. MOT