Luciano Becchio is a minor legend around West Yorkshire thanks to his goalscoring heroics at Leeds United.
Argentine Luciano Becchio joined Leeds United back in August 2008 from now liquidated Spanish side Merida UD in what was to be the most outlandish bit of business in the club’s recent history.
Former boss Gary McAllister said at the time (via club’s official website): “We’d had reports on Luciano, seen DVDs, and had a good look at him in training.
“We were very keen to get him in and he will be a real threat for us.
“I’ve been pleased with what I’ve seen of him in the games and, although he is lacking in match fitness, he realises that, and we still have 10 days before the season starts. He is working hard.
“He’s got a good instinct, he’ll be dangerous, and along with Jermaine, Enoch, Robert Snodgrass, and Andy Robinson, it gives us five offensive players who will also allow us to make little changes in shape.”
What McAllister probably did not realise at the time was that signing Becchio was just about the only good thing he did for the club.
The former Barcelona and Boca Juniors’ man would go on to do great things at Leeds and creature very memorable moments.
His 84 goals in 219 games do not tell the full story. Oh, no, there is so much more to this players memorable time at Leeds United; a pallet of joy, misery, elation and misery spread across Elland Road’s iconic paper.
Indeed, there will be fewer more iconic moments than the time he netted against Millwall in the cup – a simple goal, not even the winner in the end, but one that carried such significance that it sent the home crowd wild. The simple phrase “Becchio well placed,” enough to send lifelong fans into a state of unimaginable and unattainable nostalgia.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and Becchio’s journey closed in 2013 when he made his move to Norwich.
Things never really hit the dizzying heights of Leeds after he left the Whites’ ranks – I mean, how could they? Who were Norwich – they did not appreciate the cult figure he had become in Leeds; no one did.
A sad and sorry 16 appearances for the Canaries was followed by an even more miserable loan spell at Rotherham, and an eventual return to Argentina. Rotherham had one last crack of the whip in 2016, only months after former side Belgrano had released him, but Becchio looked a shadow of his former self.
He would later finish his career at Spanish Tercera Division side CD Binissalem in 2018.
Now only 35-years-of-age he is coaching at Club Deportivo Atlético Baleares and supporting his beloved Leeds United from afar.
