Noah Okafor is rubbing shoulders with some of Europe’s elite this season, with the forward in the same company as Kylian Mbappe in a key metric.
Despite a difficult end to the window, Leeds United have a number of attacking threats at the club for Daniel Farke to choose from, and Noah Okafor impressed and scored for Leeds against Wolves to bag his first for the club.
Okafor’s goal against Wolves was part of Leeds breaking records, alongside Anton Stach and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The versatile Swiss winger or centre-forward will be hoping to build on that and score his first goal in front of the Elland Road faithful.
Having been more of a sporadic player at AC Milan, and someone with numerous injuries in Italy as well, he will have to be patient regarding building up his fitness to be a regular starter.
Outside of the cup game, the most minutes Okafor has played for Leeds is 70. The 25-year-old forward has been taken off between the 67th and 70th minute in each of the last three games as he improves his stamina and sharpness.
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Noah Okafor’s impressive take-on stat for Leeds in September
Okafor is feeling bullish about Leeds and their chances after an impressive win away from home at Molineux. He could become a crucial player in time, especially if he builds up his match fitness.
However, things haven’t been perfect thus far. Jon Newsome was not a fan of the lack of ball retention from Okafor against Wolves.
However, it was revealed that Okafor’s dribbling broke Premier League records but Farke was more inclined to agree with the assessment of Newsome. Farke was critical of Okafor ahead of Leeds facing Bournemouth.
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Undeniably, the stats suggest Okafor has been one of the Premier League’s best dribblers already in 2025/26, with his ball-carrying crucial to progressing Leeds up the pitch.
Gabriel Gudmundsson and Jayden Bogle are also proficient in this regard. But Okafor’s tendency is underlined by the company he is now keeping in Europe’s ‘Big Five’ leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1).
Per Squawka on X (formerly Twitter), Man City’s Jeremy Doku is second for the most take-ons completed with 15, and Tottenham Hotspur’s Mohammed Kudus has 15 as well with Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid.
Iliman Ndiaye of Everton is sixth with 13 but Leeds’ Okafor is also right up there in September for take-ons. The Leeds wide forward has 10 in September, despite not playing in every league minute like others on the list.
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Former Leeds target Azzedine Ounahi tops key metric over Noah Okafor
The leader of that list is a name who may be known to Leeds fans in Azzedine Ounahi. He now plays his football for Girona but Leeds once made a bid for Ounahi at Angers.
That was in the January of 2023, with talk of a £17.5 million bid needed for Leeds to secure Ounahi. Suddenly, Phil Hay revealed Ounahi was worth closer to £35 million.
Leeds tabled a £22 million Ounahi offer to Angers. However, in the end, Ounahi struggled at Marseille. The 25-year-old ended up on loan with Greek giants Panathinaikos before joining City Football Group-owned Girona.
Squawka have revealed that the ball-carrying midfield player has completed 16 take-ons in the month of September, while he also scored recently against Athletic Club. It appears the Moroccan is back to his best again
