Could Patrick Bamford fill Rodrigo’s scoring boots at Leeds?
Including Rodrigo in your fantasy football team at the start of the season would have, in all likelihood, been enough to see you enjoy a breakaway lead at the top of your league. Indeed, the Spanish forward is more renowned for his build-up play than his goal-scoring ability, which means that very few managers would have put him in their teams on matchday one. If anything, Rodrigo’s inclusion would have come down to how much managers had left before scrolling through the bargain bin to find the Spanish striker at a price of £6.3 million.
Rodrigo didn’t carry the same appeal as someone like Harry Kane, who is at 9/1 in the latest football betting odds today to win the Premier League’s Golden Boot this season. With this being the case, it’s easy to imagine that only a few fantasy football managers would have found a space for the 31-year-old on their side.
As briefly touched on, those that did would have been handsomely rewarded as Rodrigo accumulated a staggering 38 points in five games. Sadly, that unexpected run did come to a crashing end as the forward sustained a shoulder injury against Everton after a coming together with Jordan Pickford. As things stand, the Spaniard faces a spell on the sidelines with his momentum lost.
The question now is, can Patrick Bamford fill Rodrigo’s scoring boots? In a strange twist of fate, the Englishman has become fit as Rodrigo now heads into the treatment room.
Patrick Bamford gets his goal thanks to a cool finish!
He has two in two this season after scoring only once in his previous 2️⃣7️⃣ Premier League games 👊 pic.twitter.com/LJ5DlLAkmb
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 19, 2020
Essentially, the burden of scoring for the Whites will now fall on Bamford’s who has, admittedly, endured a nightmare run of injuries since breaking into Gareth Southgate’s England side in 2021.
Congratulations on your first #ThreeLions call-up, @Patrick_Bamford! 👏 pic.twitter.com/gGNpLlahG6
— England (@England) August 26, 2021
However, it was a blistering run of form during Leeds’ first season back in the Premier League over the 2020/2021 campaign where Bamford scored 17 goals and contributed eight assists, which saw him get the call-up from Southgate. This sensational form aside, it does feel like it would be a longshot for Bamford to reproduce it, especially now that Marcelo Bielsa has left Leeds, the manager who the Englishman thrived under.
🙌 Hat-trick Bamford 🙌#AVLLEE @LUFC pic.twitter.com/TJpQmuNgny
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 23, 2020
But then again, very few would have imagined that Rodrigo would have been as prolific as he was, which is why putting Bamford it could be a masterstroke, especially if you find yourself treading water in your respective league and in need of a boost of points from somewhere.
One last factor to consider in the case for Bamford’s inclusion in your team is that the well-spoken forward is the epitome of an eternal optimist. What this essentially means is that he will still feel there is time to be brought back into the England fold before the World Cup, even if there are only a couple of months to go before the plane leaves for Qatar. Perhaps pundits and fans see the reality of the situation as being different, but that won’t stop Leeds’ number nine from trying to score as many as possible before Southgate announces his team.
With all of the above in mind, adding Bamford to your team seems like a risk worth taking.
