This weekend, Joel Piroe will face his old Swansea City manager Russell Martin, while Southampton summer acquisition Ross Stewart remains out.
Joel Piroe has wasted little time in replicating his Swansea City goalscoring form at Leeds United since his summer move to Elland Road. The Dutchman has scored four times in his five Whites appearances so far and looks set to play a key part in the club’s promotion push this season.
One man who knows Piroe’s threat more than most is Southampton boss Russell Martin, who worked with the 24-year-old at Swansea City over the past two seasons when the forward plundered 44 goals – more than any player has scored during that timeframe.
After Russell’s move to St Mary’s was confirmed in the summer, speculation that the former Norwich City defender may want to reunite with Piroe soon followed, but the striker instead moved north and Saints brought in Ross Stewart from Sunderland. Speaking ahead of his side’s home clash against Leeds this weekend, Martin spoke more about Piroe and whether or not a move was ever on the cards.
“He’s an outstanding player,” he said. “He was never a player that was an option for us because of the options that we have upfront.
“Would I have wanted him? Of course, I enjoyed working with him. He’s a great character and a really top finisher. He was someone who bought into everything we wanted to do.
“We had a tough start to life me and Joel. When we made it really clear to him what we expected of him, he was amazing.
“He’s been one of the best strikers and the best scorers in the Championship, it’s no surprise that he has started the way that he has. We have people on the pitch that know him very well and they know his game. That will hopefully help us.
“Would he have added to this group and helped us at some point? Yes. Was it ever an option? No, because we have brilliant options here that we are really happy with and we ended up signing one [in Ross Stewart] who will contribute hugely when he is fit.”
Scotland striker Stewart arrived instead this summer to compete with the likes of Che Adams and Adam Armstrong for a fee of around £10million from Sunderland, but is yet to make his debut, as he continues to recover from an Achilles injury that he suffered in January. The Leeds match will come too soon for Stewart, with Saturday’s hosts having an otherwise clean bill of health.
Leeds, meanwhile, will be without injured quartet Wilfried Gnonto, Junior Firpo, Djed Spence and Stuart Dallas, while Joe Rodon is available again following his one-match suspension and Patrick Bamford is set to return to the squad for the first time this season.
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