Leeds United fans won’t look back too fondly to the times before Marcelo Bielsa whenever they take a trip down memory lane, the Whites having a whole host of players that showed signs of their quality but never a full collective side that sealed promotion up to the Premier League.
Bielsa would break that promotion hoodoo as a much-loved boss in the Elland Road dug-out, but there are some star individuals from squads gone by before the Argentine boss pulled off the unthinkable that will still have a special place in the hearts of Leeds fans.
Pierre-Michel Lasogga in particular stands out as a Leeds cult hero from yesteryear, the German striker only having a short stint in West Yorkshire during the 2017/18 campaign but endearing himself to the Whites masses all the same.
Pierre-Michel Lasogga’s statistics at Leeds
Leeds fans would have wanted the Whites hierarchy at the time to extend the bulky 6 foot 2 striker’s contract past a loan deal for the season, the former Hertha Berlin centre-forward taking the Championship by storm.
In truth, the goalscoring exploits of the imposing striker was a rare glimmer in an otherwise flat campaign at Elland Road.
Leeds would end up finishing in an unremarkable 13th spot at the end of that 46-game season, going through both Thomas Christiansen and Paul Heckingbottom in the manager’s hot seat in the process.
Lasogga would allow the despondent Whites supporters to smile however with his displays, bagging ten goals from 31 second-tier appearances before returning back to his native Germany.
Leeds would have gotten over Lasogga not coming back rather quickly in the end – owing to Bielsa joining the season directly after the lofty striker impressed in the second tier – but he’s one player fans can look back on with fondness from a dire spell in the history of the West Yorkshire titans.
Whilst the Whites went from strength to strength under Bielsa in the aftermath of Lasogga’s exit, the towering striker’s career ended up fizzling out somewhat after his heroics in England with the ageing striker now playing in the German fourth tier for Schalke II.
Lasogga’s career since leaving Leeds
Lasogga would return back to his parent club Hamburg and show off his goalscoring prowess in the 2. Bundesliga during the 2018/19 campaign, however – scoring an impressive 19 goals in all competitions from just 31 appearances.
Yet, another club wouldn’t put up much of a fight to keep him with the former Leeds one-season wonder then offloaded surprisingly to Qatar after returning to Germany.
Lasogga would score a combined ten goals for both Al-Arabi and Al-Khor when making the lengthy journey to play out in the Middle East, before crashing back to reality now in the German fourth tier with Schalke II.
It does feel like an almighty fall from grace for a striker that ex-Leeds boss Christiansen once referred to as a “goal-getter”, now reduced to playing in the Regionalliga West.
The 32-year-old looks to still be enjoying his football even as his lengthy career begins to tail off, scoring four times from 11 appearances for his new employers this season, coincidentally the same tally as a certain Patrick Bamford, albeit in far fewer games.
Leeds have come on leaps and bounds since Lasogga was last donning a Whites strip – winning promotion up to the Premier League and now flirting with an immediate return this campaign – but those with connections to the club will still remember the goalscoring heroics of their past cult figure with affection when times were tough.
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