Palermo duo Granddi Ngoyi and Sol Bamba are being linked with moves to Elland Road while Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino has ruled out the potential return of fan favourite, Luciano Becchio.

Bamba, a French-born defender who plays international football for Ivory Coast looks like he’d be a very good acquisition. The 30-year-old hasn’t played much football since joining Palermo in August but he does have experience in the Championship having spent a season and half at Leicester City.

More of an uncertainty would be Ngoyi, the latest player to be linked with a move to Elland Road. His career seems to have gone downhill somewhat since featuring for the French U21 from 2008-10 while playing for Paris St Germain. He joined second tier side Troyes in 2012 before playing regularly in the Italian second tier as Palermo secured promotion to Serie A last season.

Ngoyi is a defensive midfielder and would likely slot in alongside Lewis Cook if Leeds continue with the 4-2-3-1 formation used in our last couple of outings, a position Rodolph Austin, who’s out of contract at the end of the season and has been subject to some speculation regarding his future already this month, has played in the past.

The biggest news this week however was Massimo Cellino’s apparent snub of Luciano Becchio, a proven goalscorer at Championship level and the kind of leading striker we’re currently lacking. As mentioned in our match report of the draw away to Bolton Wanderers, Steve Morison was something of a default choice for the 4-2-3-1 formation as neither Billy Sharp or Micro Antenucci are suited to the lone striker role.

A move to bring Luciano Becchio back, something Neil Redfearn publicly admitted he’d like to see, was therefore considered something of a ‘no-brainer’ by most fans since he can lead the line effectively on his own but would also be a valuable partner to Sharp or Antenucci when Leeds field two strikers. as I still expect we’ll do at home.

But Cellino seems to be sticking to a policy of signing out-of-favour players from the Italian leagues, something that hasn’t served us particularly well so far. While Antenucci and a couple of others have done OK, none of them have really set the division alight and there’s been an understandable learning process for them all which has probably been our biggest issue this season. This was always going to be a transitional season and that problem was to be expected, but when skirting so close to the edge of relegation, adding more unknowns who need to find their feet will only compound the issues Leeds have.

Losing Stephen Warnock will be a major blow to a side desperately lacking in experience which makes the Becchio snub all the more frustrating. He’s the kind of player who could have made a major impact in our efforts to avoid another plunge into the dark depths of League One.