Leeds told to sign South American talent as 49ers signing is branded ‘lightweight’ – Exclusive | OneFootball

Dominic Matteo has exclusively told TEAMtalk his reasons why Facundo Buonanotte has not worked out at Leeds United, with the former Whites star adamant that 49ers Enterprises should not be scarred from shopping in South America and bringing some of their top talents to Elland Road.

The Whites signed Buonanotte on a season’s loan from Brighton in January, the two-times capped Argentina playmaker making the move after seeing a similar arrangement at Chelsea cancelled.

At the time of the move, Leeds told the player he had the chance to make the move permanent if he had a big impact at Elland Road. But if Buonanotte’s lack of action at Chelsea had irked the player, he’s found an even tougher time of things since the move to West Yorkshire.

Indeed, the 21-year-old has managed just 24 minutes of Premier League action for Leeds across two substitute appearances, while his solitary start for the club, in the FA Cup fourth round at Birmingham, was aborted at half-time after he failed to have any sort of impact on the game.

Now, it is certain the player will be sent back to his parent club this summer, and while Matteo thinks there is a talent there, he understands why it has not worked out.

“He’s not really had the game time. He’s obviously a quality, talented footballer, but I haven’t seen enough of him. Is he a little bit lightweight? Maybe,” Matteo told TEAMtalk in association with betselect.co.uk.

“But that’s getting used to playing in the Premier League, which is a lot tougher. But from what I’ve seen so far, I’m not sure. I thought it was a decent signing in January, because he’s got some quality and can get on the ball, but it’s just not happened that way yet and doesn’t look like it will.”

Despite that, Buonanotte looks a rare transfer miss by 49ers Enterprises since they took a controlling stake at Leeds United, with Matteo insisting they had done well so far. The former Leeds Champions League semi-finalist also thinks the Whites should not be dissuaded from shopping for more top South American talent, despite their obvious issues with Buonanotte…

Matteo urges Leeds to sign more South American talent

Leeds spent their money extremely well last summer with the likes of Anton Stach, Gabriel Gudmundsson, James Justin, Jaka Bijol and Dominic Calvert-Lewin all significantly strengthening their starting XI, while the likes of Lukas Nmecha and Sean Longstaff have also proved useful squad additions.

The challenge for 49ers Enterprises this summer is to further improve their options and take Farke’s squad from relegation battlers into the realms of mid-table security.

But while money continues to remain tight, or at least needed to be used wisely, Matteo hopes Leeds continue to impress on that front, potentially urging the club to look towards South America for some hidden gems.

“The recruitment has been pretty good overall. Is Buoanotte the only one who’s probably not worked? Maybe,” Matteo added.

“We need to recruit as well as we did last year to make that next step. Look at Liverpool: they thought that when they signed the two centre forwards, they should have a better chance of winning the league than ever before. It doesn’t work like that…

“But I genuinely think recruitment will be even better at Leeds again.

“The talent pool in South America really interests me. I’m sure Leeds have got scouts out there, but I just think it would be stupid not to look into that.

“Some of these boys are playing on the pitch barefoot and sockless when they’re kids. They’re superheroes. Let’s get some of that magic in at Leeds!”

To help Leeds drum up some additional income, TEAMtalk can confirm that the Whites are looking to offload up to six unwanted attackers this summer.

And on the incoming front, we can reveal that United are one of four Premier League sides taking a strong interest in signing a brilliant Japanese striker, who has scored 26 times this season and looks primed to become a big name at this summer’s World Cup finals.