Leeds rumoured to be interested in David Stockdale, but why?

Leeds United had tremendous turnover at the goalkeeper position last year. The club moved Rob Green to Huddersfield Town and sent Marco Silvestri to Hellas Verona. The club then brought in Andy Lonergan from Wolverhampton and Felix Wiedwald from Werder Bremen.

While the two newcomers ended up splitting time as the starting goalkeeper, it was Bailey Peacock-Farrell, who wasn’t even imagined to be in the conversation, who took the position by storm and ended up winning the Young Player of the Year award.

So why are Leeds linked with a move for David Stockdale?

According to the most accurate source of those who cover Leeds, Phil Hay of the Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds are looking to bring in Stockdale as competition for Bailey Peacock-Farrell. But why?

Stockdale won promotion to the Premier League as a member of Brighton & Hove Albion in the 2016-17 season and moved to Birmingham City as a free agent after rejecting a new deal at the Amex Stadium. However, his move to Birmingham didn’t go as planned, as the Blues ended up with three managers as they fought a relegation battle with a number of high-priced players not reaching their potential.

Stockdale has reportedly been told by Birmingham manager Garry Monk that he is surplus to requirements at St Andrews, which begs the question of why Leeds are looking to bring him to the club. Stockdale is experienced, proven keeper, but Leeds have a budding star in Peacock-Farrell who went from afterthought to Northern Ireland national team keeper in a few short months.

Bringing in someone like Stockdale to mentor Peacock-Farrell wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world, but Stockdale is rumoured to be on wages of 40k/week, and that’s far, far too much to be paying someone to sit on the bench. If the club is looking to bring Stockdale in to be the starter, then Peacock-Farrell needs to go out on loan, because at this point in Peacock-Farrell’s career, he needs to be starting and playing week-in, week-out.

Peacock-Farrell’s already proven himself at Leeds and shouldn’t have to fight it out with a veteran who had a rough season at a relegation threatened club. While the links to Angus Gunn make sense, as he’s legitimately one of the best English keepers of any age, the links to Stockdale just don’t make any sense. Peacock-Farrell might already be a better keeper than Stockdale and is already at Leeds, so why bother?