On Wednesday, we covered an article regarding Kemar Roofe and how the striker had yet to feature for Anderlecht since leaving Leeds United over the summer.
The Belgian side paid around €6m for the goalscorer despite knowing he was injured, but they thought he would be back by now.
Leeds’ medical team believed Roofe would be available within a month, yet here we are, nine weeks later, and the player still isn’t fully fit, with the club reluctant to play him at the weekend against Club Brugge.
DH in Belgium have an article on Thursday explaining ‘pressure is mounting’ around the forward, as Anderlecht fans are impatient to see if he can help turn around their vastly disappointing start to the 2019-20 campaign under Vincent Kompany.
The outlet take some pride in pointing out Steven Defour threw himself in at the deep end at the weekend even when he wasn’t fit, but Roofe ‘still isn’t ready to face players like [Brandon] Mechele and especially [Simon] Deli’.
They surmise the ‘pressure on his shoulders must be huge’, explaining that ‘games for Leeds United against Reading and Bristol aren’t comparable to a Brugge-Anderlecht’.
And after undermining the Championship, even though they did say ‘without underestimating England’s second division’, they go and question if Roofe is the right person to solve the club’s goalscoring problem.
Looking at his past record, they point out he scored 15 goals in 2508 minutes for Leeds, or one in 167, but what they seem to forget is that his ratio is better than Ivan Santini’s last season, who so happened to be Anderlecht’s top scorer.
It just seems very odd to criticise a player before he’s even set foot on a pitch and had a chance to prove himself.
The frustration at an expensive addition being injured is understandable, but what’s better in the long run? Waiting to ensure he’s fully fit before playing him or rushing a return only for him to get injured again?
