Marcelo Bielsa really got the best out of £3m Leeds United man and his injuries led to promotion failure: View | OneFootball

Kemar Roofe only played in three seasons for Leeds United after joining from Oxford United, but saved his best campaign for his final year with the club under the stewardship of Marcelo Bielsa.

In July 2016, Roofe signed for the Championship side for around £3 million on a four-year deal from Oxford, and he was handed the number seven shirt for the 2016/17 season, perhaps as a sign of how crucial he would be to Garry Monk's side.

Roofe would feature in 42 of Leeds' league games, including 28 starts, with the majority of those coming out wide on either flank, due to a lack of wingers within Monk's ranks. Making the step up from League Two into the Championship was always likely to be difficult, and, after 25 goals during the 2015/16 campaign, he would muster just four goals and six assists in his league appearances.

However, after only being utilised infrequently in central areas in 2016/17, the forward would find the following season much more productive, in spite of Leeds dropping in the table. Roofe took no time in securing his first goals for that campaign when notching a hat-trick in Leeds' 5-1 EFL Cup victory against Newport County on August 22nd, thus almost equalling his goal tally for the previous season already.

The reason Roofe was deployed in areas closer to goal was due to Chris Wood's departure, and he quickly showcased his quality when scoring his first league goal of the season, a 2–0 victory against Nottingham Forest. Injuries were more problematic for Roofe that year, but he scored another hat-trick on December 10th in Leeds' 3-1 victory at QPR.

His good form was rewarded when Roofe was nominated as one of four players for Leeds' Player of The Year award, but he lost out to Pablo Hernandez. In the final game of the season, Roofe then scored his 14th goal of the season during a 2-0 home victory against QPR, ending as the club's top scorer with 14 goals, ahead of Pierre-Michel Lasogga who scored 10.

Marcelo Bielsa joins Leeds

Following Marcelo Bielsa's arrival, Leeds spent big-money on Patrick Bamford to spearhead their attack, and it was not abundantly clear until pre-season began as to where Roofe would feature. Many speculated that he would be back out wide in Bielsa's famous 4-1-4-1 shape.

However, he began the opening game against Stoke City as the centre-forward, performing extremely well against the title-favourites in a 3-1 win. He followed that up by scoring his first goals of the 2018/19 season with a brace in the following game, a 4-1 win over Derby County.

After continuing the month in prolific form with four goals and two assists in the first six league games of the season, Roofe was awarded Championship Player of the Month for August 2018 by the EFL. Roofe established himself as the club's first choice striker ahead of Bamford.

That was made even more secure after Bamford picked up a posterior cruciate ligament injury in September, making Roofe be the club's only senior striker available for Bielsa, but Roofe profiled extremely well for what the Argentine required.

His pace could work the channels, his work rate suited Bielsa's intensity both in and out of possession. Roofe also thrived off cut back passes, which were a particular feature under Bielsa. His lack of height to lead the line was not much of an issue, despite Bamford being the better of the pair in that regard, as Roofe had a fantastic first touch to trap the ball and the link-up play required.

However, the issue for Leeds for much of the season was rarely having Bamford and Roofe available at the same time to compete with one another. Days after the Bamford injury, Roofe himself picked up a calf injury which would rule him out for several weeks.

Roofe's injury cost Leeds promotion

After returning from injury, Roofe's impressive goalscoring form continued, including scoring a controversial goal against Nottingham Forest in a 1-1 draw on October 27th, with the ball clearly going in off Roofe's hand. He was again nominated for the EFL Championship Player of the Month award for December 2018, having scored five goals during the month and was competing well in the Championship's top scorer charts, unsurprisingly.

Within that, Leeds won two games in the final moments during the festive period against Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers, with Roofe bagging three of the goals in those two games. It put the Whites top of the league at Christmas in the process.

However, after playing in Leeds' 2-1 victory against Swansea City on February 13th 2019, after being pictured wearing a leg brace, it was announced by the club that Roofe had a knee ligament injury and would face a period out during Leeds' race for promotion. One game he missed was the loss to Sheffield United, which proved to be pivotal in the run-in for second place.

Roofe returned as a substitute in April during a 1-0 defeat to Birmingham and his appearances since then were limited to spells off the bench after missing so much of the season and with his fitness lacking, as Bielsa continued to favour Bamford as the lone striker.

After Leeds eventually finished the regular season in third, going on to qualify for the play-offs, Roofe started his first game since February during the first leg of the Championship play-off semi-final at Pride Park in May, netting the only goal of the game against sixth-placed Derby County for his 15th goal of the season.

It would prove to be his last, with Roofe missing out through injury in the return leg, where Leeds crashed out and missed out on promotion. During the season, Roofe appeared in 34 games in all competitions, and, had he played in the big moments against the likes of Sheffield United and Derby, Leeds' season could, and likely would, have turned out much differently.

Instead, he was replaced by Bamford for the second play-off leg at Elland Road after picking up an injury in the second half of the match during the 1-0 win at Pride Park. With Roofe out injured, Leeds lost 4-2 in an encounter that required some composure in attack.

Roofe then joined Anderlecht for an undisclosed fee, reported to be around £7 million, on August 6th 2019, in part due to being in the final year of his deal at Elland Road, thus forcing Leeds to sell and rely primarily on Bamford.

That proved to be the right decision, but with Roofe's fitness holding up, Leeds could have achieved their goal a year earlier than they did under Bielsa.