Leeds United are no strangers to a transfer flop and their recent squad that was relegated from the Premier League last season was littered with them.
The likes of Brenden Aaronson, Rasus Kristensen, Weston McKennie, and Marc Roca came through the door during the 2022/23 campaign but failed to do enough to keep the team in the top-flight.
Former Whites sporting director Victor Orta did not make enough successful additions to bolster Jesse Marsch's squad to help the American coach avoid the sack, despite breaking the club's transfer record during the January window.
Leeds smashed their record to land Hoffenheim youngster Georginio Rutter for a staggering fee of £35.5m in an attempt to fire the side to safety during the second half of the season.
However, there have been signings made by the Whites in the past that have been more expensive relative to the time they were made, when you adjust for the inflation of transfer fees in football over the years, including Robbie Keane – who the club had a howler with.
The Ireland international, unfortunately, did not turn out to be as successful as Rutter has turned out to be, even after an underwhelming start from the Frenchman.
Georginio Rutter's Leeds career so far
After arriving for a club-record £35.5m, the Bundesliga starlet failed to hit the ground running in the Premier League and played under three managers in five months; Marsch, Javi Gracia, and Sam Allardyce.
The young gem failed to score a single goal and registered one assist in 11 top-flight appearances for the Whites, which included one start, as Leeds were relegated down to the Championship.
Orta and the club may have expected a bigger impact from their record signing to help the team to avoid the drop from the Premier League, but the relegation has provided Rutter with an opportunity to shine in the second tier.
The 21-year-old magician has plundered six goals and created 15 for his teammates in 37 league appearances for the Yorkshire-based outfit during the 2023/24 campaign.
Rutter has only scored six goals from an xG (Expected Goals) of 11.37 in the Championship, and this suggests that the forward needs to work on his finishing as he has not made the most of the opportunities his fellow attackers have created for him.
Assists
15
1st
Expected Assists
10.06
1st
Big chances created
22
1st
Key passes per game
2.2
2nd
Dribbles completed per game
2.8
1st
As you can see in the table below, the talented whiz, however, has not had many issues when it comes to creating chances for his teammates in the final third.
He has been the outstanding creative threat for Daniel Farke at the top end of the pitch with his ability to split open opposition defences to create high-quality opportunities on a regular basis.
Rutter has five assists in his last six Championship appearances for Leeds at the time of writing (22/03/2024), which shows that the former Hoffenheim wizard has been on fire in recent weeks as the Whites challenge to secure automatic promotion to the Premier League.
His impressive performances in attack this season suggest that he is well on his way to being a success at Elland Road, which was, unfortunately, not the case for Keane in Yorkshire.
How much Leeds paid to sign Robbie Keane in 2024 money
Former Leeds manager David O'Leary swooped to sign the Irish centre-forward on loan from Italian giants Inter in January 2001 before making the move permanent in the summer of that year.
Per Totally Money, the club paid £16.2m in total to land the attacker and, per their index, that would be worth a staggering £36.58m in today's (2024) money. This means that Keane was worth more than Rutter at the time of their respective arrivals relative to the time that they were signed.
The attacker had only scored three goals in 15 matches for Inter after his move from Coventry City, where he had plundered 12 goals in 31 Premier League games.
Keane hit the ground running at Elland Road during his loan spell from the Italian giants, with a return of eight goals and one assist in 18 top-flight outings, and zero in two FA Cup clashes, in the second half of the 2000/01 campaign.
His impressive goalscoring record during his time on loan made the big-money permanent deal look sensible at the time. Unfortunately, it did not turn out to be a good use of funds by O'Leary and the club, as they had a howler with the Elland Road flop.
Robbie Keane's struggles at Leeds
The Ireland international scored nine goals in 33 appearances in all competitions for the Whites throughout the 2001/02 campaign, as he only scored one more goal in 13 more outings than he did for Leeds during the second half of the previous season.
Three of his nine goals also came in a 6-0 thumping of Leicester City in the League Cup, and another three of his strikes came in six UEFA Cup games.
This meant that only three of his goals came in the Premier League as the forward managed three goals and one assist in 25 top-flight appearances for O'Leary.
A return of just three league goals for Keane in the 2001/02 season shows that he was a flop in front of goal after being signed for a whopping £36.58m in 2024 money, as he scored less than half as many Premier League goals that term as he did in his five-month loan spell in Yorkshire.
Terry Venables then arrived as the new Leeds manager in the summer of 2002 and left the striker on the bench for the first two games of the season, which – along with some convincing from Glen Hoddle – led to a £7m transfer to Tottenham Hotspur that year.
Keane, therefore, spent just one season and only scored three Premier League goals in his time at the club on a permanent basis, which shows that the club had a big howler with his signing – given the relative money spent on him in 2001.
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The centre-forward went on to score over 100 goals for both Spurs and MLS giants LA Galaxy respectively later in his career, which shows that the Leeds flop did go on to achieve success in front of goal in his career after his struggles in Yorkshire.
