Leeds Must Axe £125,000-a-Week Dud to Avoid Relegation

Leeds United may soon have to bench Dominic Calvert-Lewin in favour of fellow forward Joel Piroe.

Alongside Sunderland and Burnley, Leeds have enjoyed a start to the season that suggests that, for the 2025/26 campaign, there will be more competition from the promoted teams. Across the past two years, any new arrivals from the Championship to the Premier League have failed to remain in the division.

Leeds have picked up eight points from their opening seven league games of the season, having lost 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur in a hard-fought match in their last game before the October international break. Under Daniel Farke, the Whites have, to date, appeared a tough side to play against, barring their 5-0 thrashing away at Arsenal.

Some questions have been asked of a few Leeds players after their first games back in the English top flight and it might be that, after the international break, Farke needs to make what would be a drastic change.

Piroe In For Calvert-Lewin?

Having left Everton in the summer, Dominic Calvert-Lewin joined Leeds United in the latter stages of the window as a free agent, penning a contract that will earn him £125,000 per week. The Englishman has proven, over the years, that he is more than good enough to play in the Premier League, but has faced well-documented injury struggles across his career.

Calvert-Lewin has had a positive impact on Leeds since being drafted into the first-team, giving the Whites a physical outlet up front and allowing them to play long balls forward, knowing Calvert-Lewin will bring most of them down.

Joel Piroe, who finished last season as the Championship top scorer, is a very different profile to Calvert-Lewin. The Dutchman is not as physical as his counterpart, preferring to drop a bit deeper and have time on the ball rather than battle with opposing defenders.

For all of Calvert-Lewin’s good work, however, he has crucially spurned a number of chances in his Leeds career already, with scoring, of course, being the main job of a striker. Had Calvert-Lewin converted some of his chances, particularly against Spurs and Bournemouth, then the games would have had a different complexion. Piroe, meanwhile, shines as a finisher, with it being the other aspects of his game that are called into question.

In some of their upcoming games, including clashes with Burnley, West Ham, Brighton and Nottingham Forest, Leeds could, in theory, see more of the ball than they have done in some of the matches they have already played, which could give Farke an ample window to start Piroe over Calvert-Lewin, the Dutchman having last started against Arsenal in August.

With more of the ball, it would be less crucial for a target man to lead the line and in possession, Piroe, who has been called “phenomenal” in the past, could offer Leeds a further dimension in the attacking third, combined with his aforementioned lethal shooting ability. Whether this is a decision Leeds make, however, remains to be seen, as they look to buck the recent trend of promoted teams facing immediate relegation.