With Raphinha's exit confirmed on Saturday, Leeds will look toward their new signing Luis Sinisterra to fill his boots.
Sinisterra is Leeds United's latest addition to Jesse Marsch's squad as the Yorkshire club looks to improve on a relegation-escaping season and finish higher up the Premier League table in the American’s first full season with the team.
The Colombian joins Leeds' five other signings Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen from RB Salzburg, Tyler Adams from RB Leipzig, Darko Gyabi from Manchester City and Marc Roca from Bayern Munich in arriving at Elland Road this summer, with Kalvin Phillips leaving the club for City. Other departures include Charlie Cresswell and Tyler Roberts finding loan moves to the Championship.
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The 23-year-old Colombian scored 23 goals across 49 appearances in all competitions for Feyenoord last season, including 11 in continental games, and many fans will be hoping he continues the same kind of goalscoring record in his debut Premier League season.
So how will Sinisterra and co adjust to the Premier League and can Jesse Marsch get the best out of his new signings? We simulated Leeds’ 2022/23 season to find out.
Sinisterra surprises for Leeds
To start, we used the in-game editor for Football Manager 22 to allow the transfers of Sinisterra, Adams, Aaronson, Kristensen, Gyabi and Roca to Leeds to happen in the summer transfer window.
As we can see from Sinisterra’s in-game stats, the Colombian is a winger that can play either side of the pitch, using both feet to cut inside with his strong Dribbling (15) to use his great Acceleration (16) and Pace (16) to break down defences and get shots away at goal. He also has fairly accurate Passing (11) and good Crossing (13) so he's not afraid to give the ball to a teammate in the right places to create more open space to get past defenders.
The 23-year-old might've only netted three goals over the course of the campaign but he did show himself to be more of a playmaker - eight assists in all competitions showed his true nature in 32 appearances. He averaged a 6.89 rating, placing him third in the entire squad, behind only Kristensen (6.97) and Patrick Bamford (6.93) and ahead of Jack Harrison (6.84) and Illan Meslier (6.83).
Another of the signings, Roca, had a standout season amongst the squad. The Spaniard grabbed seven assists and a single league goal from his defensive midfield position, averaging a 6.81 rating in the process. Playing behind the pair of Adams and Mateusz Klich, the 25-year-old played 38 appearances and had the highest pass completion rate in the squad with 87%.
For the other signings, Aaronson, Gyabi and Kristensen all played rotational roles throughout the season with Gyabi making up most of his minutes with the U-23s squad. Kristensen played incredibly well at full-back, grabbing three assists of his own, whilst Aaronson made 15 substitute appearances throughout the season, mainly for either Adams or Klich in the centre of the pitch, grabbing himself one assist.
At the end of the season, FM22 put out a Best XI for the Leeds squad, pulling out player statistics, league data and other metrics to come to a conclusion.
Full Leeds Best XI (4-3-3): Meslier; Kristensen, Struijk, Llorente, Dallas; Roca, Adams, Klich; Harrison, Sinisterra, Bamford.
Looking at the team, four of the summer signings made it into the Best XI with Sinisterra essentially replacing Raphinha's place in the lineup. The midfield trio of Roca, Adams and Klich also seem to have helped defensively as Leeds conceded a lot fewer goals than they had in the previous campaign.
So, how did Leeds get on in their 2022/23 campaign?
Leeds 2022/23 season overall according to our simulation
Looking at the league table, 15th is a slight improvement for Jesse Marsch's men over the previous season, with them turning two of their defeats into draws despite losing two of their most important players in Phillips and Raphinha. Leeds also finished with a much better goal difference than last season, conceding 27 fewer goals while scoring just one less, giving them a massive plus 26 difference over last year.
In their domestic competitions, a third-round exit from the Carabao Cup after a 2-0 loss to Sheffield United left a lot to be desired but that would change in the FA Cup. A run all the way to the Quarter Finals beating Sunderland, Oxford United and Norwich had fans excited before being drawn against historic rivals Manchester United. Despite taking the lead through Bamford in the 21st minute, an eventual 3-1 loss with goals from Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo meant Leeds were out.
Overall, it was an improvement on the previous season but of course, fans will want to see more in real life. Going up a couple of positions in the league is decent but a deep run into the FA Cup will give them hope that it can replicate into Leeds' actual 2022/23 season. Ultimately, Sinisterra will need time to adjust to the Premier League, but it's clear they've got a talented player on their hands.
Let us know how you think Leeds will fare this season in the comments below!
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