Leeds United striker Chris Wood backed to hit new heights under Thomas Christiansen

The goal ratio of Chris Wood is likely to have spoken for itself when talk with the club’s hierarchy turned to United’s strike-force talisman.

The Kiwi’s statistics in 2016-17 led to the Championship Golden Boot award residing on his mantelpiece following a haul of 27 league goals.

Wood’s overall tally of 30 saw him to join an exclusive club containing just five other names who have reached that celebrated milestone in Leeds’s colours.

Eclipsing those feats would represent a seriously tall order for most players.

But a well-known footballing adage says that the best do not rest on their laurels.

Christiansen believes that Wood has the potential to number among such players – hungry for further success and clearly in the form of his life.

Ex-Barcelona forward Christiansen is in the early days of his head coaching tenure at Elland Road, but he has soon realised that Wood’s value to the United cause is inestimable.

The fact Wood accumulated close to half of United’s league output last season – 27 of 61 – has not been lost on Christiansen, who will receive confirmation early this morning of United’s EFL fixtures for the 2017-18 season.

His desire for Wood again to prove the cornerstone of United’s campaign is self-evident.

And his belief that the forward – who, in terms of footballing years, is some way from his peak at 25 – can and must aim to improve further is a shrewd one.

Looking to push Wood to even greater heights and affirming his desire to build his side around the forward, Christiansen said: “I believe I can make him better and he should be better. He should not stay at this level.

“It is a good level of course if you score so many goals, but you should always want to raise your target and be ambitious in all that you do.

“He is also a very young player still. He has many years of football ahead and he, for sure, will have the same target as I have.

“Who would not want a player who has scored 30 goals? I rate him very highly. I am happy he came out the other day in the press saying that he will look forward to working with me and that is a very good sign.”

Keeping to that theme, new United director of football Victor Orta was equally enthused by recent comments from Wood that Christiansen is “an exciting new manager who did well last season” in reference to his achievements at APOEL Nicosia.

For many United followers, the more pertinent issue is whether Wood will, in fact, be wearing a United jersey come the start of August, with his goal-laden exploits likely to have drawn admiring glances from clubs in the top flight.

Orta’s comments at the unveiling of Christiansen did not unequivocally suggest it can be taken as read that the striker will remain, although the recent remarks by Wood do seem to point to a player who is happy and settled.

On the club’s desire that Wood will again be the attacking fulcrum for Leeds in 2017-18, Orta added: “I hope, but in football, no-body can say 100 per cent. Fifteen days ago, Cristiano Ronaldo lifted the (Champions League) trophy and all the people said he will stay next season.

“Now there is a lot of doubt. Football is the same at Real Madrid, Leeds or Serie A. You cannot say 100 per cent a player will stay.

“But I am really happy to read a good interview with Chris a week ago, which said he was really happy with the new manager and is really happy with the club.

“For me, I am really happy he is still here next season. For me, it is the best situation for Chris and I hope he stays.”

As well as Wood, Christiansen believes that the squad that he is inheriting at Leeds is a relatively good one, with the Dane having swiftly ruled out any potential raids on former club APOEL in the close season.

The new Leeds head coach will have the final say on transfers, according to his director of football, and while his desire is to “raise the level” in the United team over time, Christiansen clearly believes that he has plenty to work with.

On the prospect of new arrivals over the summer, Christiansen said: “We are talking with Victor and we will see. But, right now, there are no players from my previous teams that we have in mind.

“As I said in the presentation, I went through nearly all the players who I had the possibility to see.

“We have good players in the squad and players we can build on to achieve something important. Of course, we want to make the team better and we want to raise the level in the team.

“From what I have seen until now, I am happy with the squad we have.”