Leeds United‘s promotion to the Premier League last year meant that Daniel Farke and the recruitment team had to replace several players in the squad to make the step-up to the top-flight.
The Whites won the Championship title with 100 points in the 2024/25 campaign, earning promotion, but not all of their stars from that season were ready to play at a higher level.
That is why the likes of Anton Stach, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, James Justin, and Noah Okafor were brought in to bolster the German head coach’s options across the pitch.
One of the players who suffered as a result of the team’s promotion to the Premier League was centre-forward Joel Piroe, who left the club to join West Ham United on loan this summer.
Why Joel Piroe was not ready for the Premier League
The Suriname international was a star for the Whites in their title-winning season in the Championship, as he won the Golden Boot with 19 goals for the club as the starting number nine.
Even in that season, though, there were signs that he would not handle the step-up to the Premier League. Piroe lost 67% of his ground duels and 79% of his aerial duels across 46 appearances in the second tier in the 2024/25 campaign.
The former Swansea City star struggles with the physical side of the game as a striker and fighting against relegation from the Premier League requires players with intensity and physicality to their game, which is why he ended up struggling in the top-flight.
|
25/26 Premier League |
Joel Piroe |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
16 |
|
Starts |
2 |
|
Goals |
0 |
|
Assists |
0 |
|
Duels won per game |
0.5 |
|
Ground duel success rate |
21% |
|
Aerial duel success rate |
26% |
Piroe only started two matches in the division last term, as Lukas Nmecha and Calvert-Lewin were preferred ahead of him, and he failed to take his opportunities when they came, losing the majority of his duels on the deck and in the air.
The 27-year-old marksman, ultimately, was not ready for the Premier League because of his lack of physicality as a centre-forward, which eventually led to his move to the Hammers this year, one year after winning the Golden Boot for Leeds in the Championship.
There are other players still in the first-team squad at Elland Road, though, who are in danger of becoming the next version of Piroe by falling out of favour.
In the 2024/25 campaign, Ilia Gruev started 20 of his 23 appearances in the Championship for the Whites in their promotion-winning season, completing 91% of his passes and winning 52% of his duels.
The Bulgaria international was then given plenty of opportunities to impress in the Premier League for the West Yorkshire outfit last term, starting 15 of his 23 appearances in the division.
Unfortunately, he did not do enough in those matches to suggest that he has what it takes to be a reliable performer for Leeds in the top-flight moving forward.
Gruev lost 52% of his ground duels and 59% of his aerial duels across those 23 games in the Premier League, which shows that opposition players found it far too easy to get the better of him.
The 26-year-old midfielder was unable to deal with the increased physicality and intensity of the league, compared to the Championship, and struggled too much.
|
25/26 Premier League |
Ilia Gruev |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
23 |
|
Starts |
15 |
|
Goals |
0 |
|
Assists |
3 |
|
Tackles + interceptions per game |
1.7 |
|
Duels won per game |
2.3 |
|
Ground duel success rate |
48% |
|
Aerial duel success rate |
41% |
Leeds only won two of the 15 matches that he started in the Premier League last season, possibly due to his lack of physicality in the middle of the park, and he has not started a game for the club in the division since March.
Gruev, who has gone 51 matches without a goal since his strike against Norwich City in the play-offs in 2024, does not offer enough on and off the ball to make himself a reliable and consistent performer in the top-flight for the Whites.
To go along with his struggles off the ball, the Bulgarian maestro did not score a single goal in the 2025/26 or 2024/25 campaigns, going over two years without a goal.
Like Piroe, the physicality of the Premier League seems like a step too far for the midfield star, who was once a crucial player for Farke in the second tier.
Gruev has not played a single minute for the Whites this season, although he missed the first month through injury, and the likes of Ao Tanaka, Sean Longstaff, Ethan Ampadu, and Anton Stach are all ahead of him in the pecking order.
Farke may have to do what he did with Piroe and allow Gruev to move on from Elland Road in the next transfer window, as he looks like another Championship star who has been unable to establish himself in the Premier League.