When Neil Redfearn said Luciano Becchio was a player he desired to have back at Leeds United our collective hearts jumped for joy. Well, mine did because I’m not a heartless monster. Whether he’s the same player he used to be seemed irrelevant; the Argentine is a proven player both at this level and at this club. The subsequent dismissal from our absent overlord was galling, especially when we’re told the club are keen on Edgar Çani instead. Who? Here we go again.



Like many of our transfers I immediately leapt neck deep into Google and resisted the urge to look at naked ladies long enough to discover what hidden gem Massimo thinks this relegation threatened club requires. What I found out is that Çani is a 6ft 4 Albanian forward playing on loan in Serie B and scoring very few goals indeed. 19 goals since 2011, to be precise. Not many fans will salivate over an unproven forward scoring single-digit goals in a poor league. Unless you are indeed the kind of heartless monster who doesn’t like Becchio.

But this isn’t a post criticising a player I know very little about (fun as that might be), Edgar was merely the trigger for me to pose the question as to whether Serie B is a good enough league to poach from.

Serie B vs. Championship. A big size difference.

The clubs in Serie B are not the same size of those in the Championship. Looking at average attendances there are only 5 clubs who average over 7,000 people per match, with Bari getting the most of just over 19,000. The Championship on the other hand has only one club (Bournemouth) to average below 10,000. Serie B is perhaps more representative of League One.

In attendance terms, the two aren’t remotely comparable – therefore players signed from Serie B will not be used to the additional spectacle that comes with crowds this large.

Do good players stay in Serie B?

Let’s be honest, no. Since the wage cap was introduced, players can earn no more than around £5,000 per week (including bonuses). While that’s obviously done to force a degree of sustainability on the clubs in the league, you simply cannot fathom truly good players staying at this level. Truly good players are not likely to remain in the second division, instead pushing through moves to Serie A or abroad where salaries are higher.

So we’ve established that crowds are low and that the players are unlikely to be “the next Messi” beyond the age of 20 where a combination of keen-eyed scouts, greedy agents and footballing entropy bubble talent towards the bigger clubs… It doesn’t seem like Serie B is an untapped pool of brilliant players like Cellino would have us believe.

We’re also not signing the best players from Serie B

This is perhaps the biggest point of the lot. We’ve historically signed players from lower leagues – Jermaine Beckford came from Wealdstone, Robert Snodgrass from Livingston, Luciano Becchio from Mérida… The difference being that these were players who excelled in those leagues prior to us purchasing them.

Beckford scored 54 goals in 82 appearances, Snodgrass was gaining fans through his obvious talent and Becchio scored 28 in 50.

These are players who were well regarded in their lower league places and were a justifiable gamble in bringing them in. Some of Cellino’s purchases however haven’t been players you’d consider “amongst the best in their league”.

Doukara scored 6 in 33 (and those 6 came from playing a divison BELOW Serie B), Çani has scored 5 in 30 (in Serie B)… These aren’t players who are excelling at their current level, but are ones Cellino thinks are worthy of a place at Leeds.

Antenucci though?

Widely regarded as one of the finer Cellino signings, the bearded Italian actually has some statistics to support that – he scored 19 in 40 for Ternana Calcio prior to joining Leeds. Equally, Pavoletti has some pretty reasonable Serie B stats (24 in 33).

So while I think there’s a genuine argument for Serie B not being as strong as the Championship, it’d be a much more defensible transfer strategy if we signed players who were performing comfortably at that level. But we don’t. Cellino seems to sign against criteria detatched from on-the-pitch matters. Namely, are they young (so they can be sold for profit later should they be good), are they cheap and do they have the right attitude (i.e. will they quietly do what they’re told).

It’s incredibly frustrating for our head coach to specifically cite the need for experienced players in this league at this level, only for Massimo to disregard that entirely in favour of finding more Serie B players that Nicola Salerno thinks are worth a punt. I truly hope that we kick through enough muddy ground that we eventually stumble over a truly exceptional player – but this does seem rather unlikely. Exceptional players would presumably be performing well already.

On the plus side, at least we didn’t sign Andy Delort. A man who had a terrific scoring record in Ligue 2 but has failed to endear himself to Wigan fans by skipping matches and posting shirtless pictures on Instagram.

I’m just concerned that we’re near the bottom of the league, selling our captain and ignoring our head coach’s call for players who can make an immediate impact. Instead Cellino is doing what Cellino does best; whatever the hell he wants. So while he apathetically dips his hand into the Serie B “lost and found”, we’re sat looking cautiously over our shoulders at a 2015/16 season spent facing teams like Rochdale and Peterborough.

Prove me wrong Massimo. Prove me wrong.