Who next for Leeds United's frontline?

The past few days have shown change and maybe an air of disappointment, but hope at Leeds United. Jermaine Beckford scored his first goal for Everton on Saturday against Preston and netted another shortly afterwards, linking up well with the rest of his team mates and generally getting positive reviews from the club's supporters. Many had seen David Moyes to be taking a risk with the capture of Beckford, who jumped 2 leagues up to join the Toffees. Beckford also picked up a knock, but it doesn't look to be as serious as first thought. So Jermaine Beckford looks to be settling in well at Everton at this early moment in time. But what about his former club Leeds United?

Beckford placed his name into Leeds United's history, with a sizeable amount of goals during his spell at Elland Road. Beckford was described to be a lightswitch player, on and off with his popularity amongst teammates and fans alike. Beckford secured popularity on the last day, with his goal bringing us back onto target for last day promotion, as he did so many times in the last 3 years. Although we knew he was leaving, we couldn't help but thank him for his services, many a time singlehandedly winning us games when in top form. Many wondered how we would cope without him in a much harder league, but the promises of Uncle Ken's warchest eased their fears for a bit. Apparently, the signing of Swindon's Billy Paynter on a free was common knowledge and it looked at first as if he'd be backup or even the 2nd striker if he did well enough. Paynter scored against MSK Kosice in Slovakia to give United the 1-0 win and impressed many, looking to be a popular acquisition already. But the hunt for Beckford's replacement was still on. Names were thrown about like Jonny Howson in the Under 14 girls league, Billy Sharp and Gary Hooper were the two players Leeds fans wanted most. Shaun Harvey told supporters that we wouldn't make a bid for Sharp as we'd been unable to compete with Burnley for Sharp, who joined Doncaster Rovers a week later for £1.1m, a seemingly paltry fee in this league for a 20 goal striker. Gary Hooper was hailed as the new messiah by many fans, a very popular choice, but ended up joining Celtic today. Which leaves the question, if we haven't got £1.1m to compete with opposition teams for players, how much of the warchest is there? And who is next? Another ride on the free transfer market? Another loan of a youngster that has the potential but not experience to deliver goals? There is options in attack we can use and good ones at that, but the fans want to see a player we know will deliver. Luciano Becchio is a popular player at the club, has a good goalscoring record and now the new saviour, although at times he can hit dry spells of form and is unproven in this league. Paynter looks to be a good signing but can he step up to the level of the Championship and perform well enough for us? Max Gradel is predominantly a winger but has the pace and skill to perform upfront if needs be, although as said, he's much better suited to the right wing. Davide Somma performed brilliantly at League 2 Lincoln and looks ot have the potential to do well for us, but again, he is unproven. As is the case with Mike Grella, who will have to work equally as hard to get the pitch minutes. Neither Gradel or Somma, equally important as one another, will start against Derby due to suspensions so if Grayson wants a striker that will A) Have settled into the setup by Derby and B)Guarantee him goals, he'll have to be quick about it.

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Who next for Leeds United's frontline?