Born 28th December 1983 in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas Luciano Héctor Becchio started his footballing career as a youngster playing for Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires. After failing to break into the first team he moved to Spain where he had spells at Mallorca, Terrassa, Barcelona and Merida before joining Leeds United on trial. Becchio met up with the squad on pre-season in Galway and immediately impressed manager Gary McAllister who signed him on a permanent deal.Becchio scored on his debut against Yeovil Town and has gone on to be an integral member of the Leeds United squad. In his four full seasons at the club he has played well over forty games every season and has not yet failed to net in double figures. Largely serving as understudy to Jermaine Beckford in his first couple of seasons at the club he came into his own in our first season in the Championship netting an impressive 19 times in the League from 34 appearances. Since then he has been our main striking threat.
On Saturday he scored his thirteenth and fourteenth goals of the 2012-2013 league campaign taking his total league tally to 75 and putting him 10th in the Leeds United all time league goal scorers list*. He is the only player of the modern era to make that list joining names such as Peter Lorimer, John Charles and Allan Clarke, a place he rightfully deserves to be. He is undoubtedly one of the best signings of our ‘wilderness years’ and one of Gwyn Williams’ best finds.
Becchio it seems will always divide the opinion of Leeds United fans, as happens with many of our players. Some lament his poor first touch, his work rate, his finishing. But to me he is a player who works tirelessly for the team, is reliable, who rarely misses a match and can always produce a moment of magic. There are no tantrums with Becchio, no unreasonable contract demands, just a desire to play and score for Leeds United. So arise Luciano Becchio, Leeds United legend.
Luciano, Luciaaannnoooo, cost less than Berbatov and he scores more goals!
* For a full list of Leeds United’s top 10 league scorers please see the comments.
