Patrick Bamford is keen to leave Leeds United at the end of this season in a bid to find more first-team opportunities, according to former professional scout Mick Brown.
Bamford has enjoyed some highs at Elland Road since signing from Middlesbrough in the summer of 2018, netting 16 goals in Leeds’ promotion campaign and 17 goals in their first season back in the Premier League.
However, a mixture of injuries and loss of form have seen Bamford fall down the pecking order in recent years and this season, he’s played just 42 Championship minutes across four substitute appearances.
At 31 years old, Bamford will be well aware that he’ll need to act fast if he wants to re-establish himself as a regular starter in the top two divisions of English football.
Leeds have already been linked with Danish striker Adam Daghim from RB Salzburg as a potential replacement (via Football Fancast), with the Whites possibly set to call upon their Red Bull partnership to strengthen their forward line.
Patrick Bamford ‘desperate’ to leave Leeds United
Former Man Utd, Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers chief scout Brown — who counts Sir Alex Ferguson among the managers he has worked under — believes Bamford will be ‘desperate to leave’ Elland Road in search of regular starts.
“I’ve heard he wants to leave,” Brown told Football Insider.
“He’s been there for a while now so a change of location might be tempting him to move and, if he’s not playing regularly, I can see him looking for a way out.
“Being on the bench every week will be frustrating for him because he’ll be used to being a regular starter in that team.
“I can see Leeds being keen to move him on as well, because his record isn’t very good.
“He’s had injuries in the last couple of years as well.
“Leeds want to get promotion and they want to be a Premier League side. He doesn’t fit that bill because he’s been there before and not done it.
“I think it’s time for him to move on, and for Leeds to move him on.
“But that move won’t be upwards, it’ll be downwards. For me, he’s been an underachiever in his career.
“If he does get that move away, though, I’d expect it to be at the end of the season rather than in January because he’ll still have a role to play for them for now.“
