Becchio will come good for Leeds, insists Mick Jones

Becchio, set to lead the line against Premiership visitors Southampton in the fourth round of the Capital One Cup this evening, has failed to score in his last three outings and has looked decidedly off-colour in recent weeks – with his last goal in open play coming seven games ago in the 2-1 home win over Nottingham Forest on September 22.

But Jones, who revealed the club want to bring in a fast and direct striker on loan to compliment Becchio, insists the nine-goal Argentine will find his scoring boots again soon.

He said: “It is probably a bit of confidence. Luciano is having a hard time at the moment; everyone can see that. But we all know how genuine and hard-working he is and I am certain he is still up there as among the leading scorers in the division.

“So there is not an awful lot wrong.

“I remember quite a few years ago that Alan Shearer went 13 games without a goal and the only person who was not worried was him, while everyone else was talking about it.

“All Luciano has to do is keeping doing the same things over and over and over and the end result will be a goal. And like all strikers, when they score a goal, they then start believing they will score another one. It is a little bit of confidence more than anything else.

“This is only the early part of the season and there is a long way to go yet and I am certain, given all the games left in the season, that people will see that Becchio is up there with the top scorers in this league.”

While sure Becchio’s current toils in front of goal represent a blip, Jones has acknowledged the need to bolster a seriously depleted striking department currently without last season’s top-scorer Ross McCormack and Davide Somma, with El-Hadji Diouf supplementing the forward line, despite not playing as a regular central striker for much of his career.

With Dom Poleon loaned out to League One Bury to gain some valuable Football League experience, the only other fit forwards at United’s disposal are Andy Gray and Luke Varney with bringing in some attacking reinforcements a big priority area.

Jones, who watched United fail to score for the first time this season in Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Birmingham City, said: “I am not too worried about our team whatsoever as I think we are a decent squad. Although I do not think we have a big enough squad.

“But the one part of the team that does concern us more than anything else is the lack of pace up front. That is the one area that myself, the manager and Ronnie Jepson have all talked about over the weekend.

“Every scout at the club is alerted to what we want and we are looking out for that kind of player.

“It will come down to finance, that is the bottom line, I guess. You can go and buy the best centre forward in the country if you have got the money. But if you haven’t, you can’t get anybody.

“I have always been on the side of improving the team all of the time. If somebody says: ‘you can’t sign him’, that’s the end of the matter. But until such time as that happens, we will keep doing our jobs.

“I could go abroad now and tell you about a player in Peru I would have here tomorrow, for instance. But it is not feasible, but that is the type of thing that will make us a far better team. There is always room for improvement.

“Poleon is out for experience and he scored on Saturday and did well - that is what he is there for. But at this moment in time, we are looking for an established player who is maybe early-twenties who has scored a lot of goals and is maybe going to be a free transfer (loan).”

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