Leeds United’s most ambitious transfer pursuit of the summer saw them fail to land Igor Paixao, who chose to join Marseille instead of Elland Road.

United’s attacking recruitment left a lot to be desired in the final stages of the window. Daniel Farke was ultimately left short despite numerous players emerging on the club’s radar.

No pursuits were more serious than for Feyenoord’s Igor Paixao, but the club ultimately missed out despite bidding £28million for his services.

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Igor Paixao yet to demonstrate bright talents at Marseille, coming in for harsh criticism

Leeds’ pursuit ultimately came up short because Paixao had his heart set on Marseille, who qualified for the Champions League under Roberto De Zerbi. With that in mind, it’s hard to blame the Brazilian.

Both clubs, though, knew that they would have to be patient in order to see the very best from Paixao. He suffered an injury setback early in pre-season that would see him ruled out until September.

He made his Ligue 1 debut off the bench for OM at the weekend against Lorient in a 4-0 win, and again started on the bench in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

OM had the unenviable task of travelling to the Santiago Bernabeu on matchday one, and Paixao was introduced on 66 minutes with the game in the balance at 1-1.

Igor Paixao in action against Real Madrid, after rejecting Leeds United for Marseille. (REUTERS/Juan Medina)

Replacing loanee from Brighton Matt O’Riley, Paixao was claimed by Eurosport to have made no difference to O’Riley’s 4/10 performance:

“Not spontaneous enough, the Dane (O’Riley) lost a lot of balls and lacked spontaneity on some Marseille counters. He made the retreat efforts but it was in the offensive field that he was expected.

“Replaced by Igor PAIXAO (66th), who has not changed anything.”

As for online reaction, dedicated Marseille pages are left underwhelmed by the Brazilian’s first actions in an OM shirt.

“Did Igor Paixao’s entry into the game lack spice?”

Igor Paixao off to tough Marseille start after Leeds United rejection

It’s safe to say that Marseille fans aren’t totally in love with what they’ve seen from Paixao so far. However, it’s incredibly harsh to past judgements.

He’s been available for two games after a fairly decent stint on the sidelines, so he’s bound to be rusty.

Some of the comments from OM supporters are alarming for him though. Plenty of them seem to have given up already.

For Leeds, it’s a shame we didn’t get chance to see him here, but the worry from his injury was always that he’d have been a slow starter. We needed players to hit the ground running.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!