Leeds United continued their unbelievable start to 2024 with yet another emphatic win in the Championship, brushing aside basement club Rotherham United 3-0 on Saturday without ever really feeling threatened themselves.
It's now six wins from six in a year that Daniel Farke's men will be hoping sees them play Premier League football next season, the Whites machine just chugging along and picking up routine victories as it goes to try and achieve that goal.
Farke could still be left wondering what could've been with some January transfer business regardless of how well his side are doing currently in the fight for the top two, especially when casting his mind back to when the Whites were in for this Junior Firpo upgrade.
Leeds wanted Premier League defender
Reportedly on the radar at Elland Road for some time – with Nottingham Forest resisting the urge to offload their Welsh defender in the summer to the Whites according to reports – Leeds' interest in Neco Williams reignited once more last month.
A loan switch until the end of the season never got over in the line in the end, despite the Athletic's Phil Hay stating that Williams was admired by the Whites hierarchy, which has resulted in Farke having to maintain his faith in Firpo as his starting left-back owing to a lack of other options.
This could be a transfer move gone cold that Leeds end up regretting, with their revitalised number three susceptible to drops in form and confidence.
Whereas, their former transfer target could well have excelled and showed his top-flight class at Elland Road making the drop down to help his new employers achieve promotion glory.
Neco Williams' career statistics
Williams might well not naturally be a left-back, but the Welshman has been utilised in the left-back spot from time to time at the City Ground – six of his 56 appearances for Forest coming from this unfamiliar channel.
It's not as if Farke isn't prone to shoehorning talent into his starting lineups wherever possible, seen in Archie Gray still remaining at right-back and Ethan Ampadu's position being subtly tweaked on occasion from defensive midfield to centre-back.
Still, Williams' expertise at being able to play as a right-back and a left-back would've been handy for the Whites – Leeds' main concerns in the window did centre on their lack of options in these spots.
Williams' knack for tallying up assists would have also been a useful weapon to have in the ranks at Elland Road, the 22-year-old picking up six assists in total whilst still at Liverpool in the first-team despite limited game-time in the senior set-up.
On his Reds debut no less back in 2019, Williams would assist in the dying minutes for Divock Origi to score – a confident and silky player even as a teenager, completely unfazed by the pressures around him.
Williams' leap into the first team at Anfield even saw Trent Alexander-Arnold refer to the 22-year-old in 2020 as an "amazing talent", a fantastic potential asset for Leeds to have had in their pursuit of promotion.
The Welshman has also shone at second tier level in the past too, helping himself to two goals and two assists from 15 games during the 2021/22 season for Marco Silva's Fulham who would eventually romp home to the Championship title.
Although Firpo has been through a purple patch of late – picking up four assists in 2024 to date – his output has begun to dry up recently.
The former Barcelona defender couldn't even attack with purpose up against a leaky Rotherham side last time out, only amassing one key pass in the game as the full-back played like a passenger in West Yorkshire.
Williams could well have had his eyes on the right-back spot and usurping Gray if he did decide to relocate to Leeds at the death, but with Firpo's up-and-down nature in a Whites strip, the former Liverpool man could well have come in at left-back and still taken the division by storm.
