Could there have been a more Dominic Calvert-Lewin way for the Leeds United striker to open his account for the season?

The Englishman is a penalty-box poacher extraordinaire and showed as much again against Brentford, prodding home from close range to snatch a point for the Yorkshire side.

He's not one to produce a moment of magic from distance, but the 29-year-old doesn't need to when he's so lethal inside the six-yard box, having picked up where he left off last term after netting 14 Premier League goals across 2025/26.

From looking down in the dumps at Everton, Calvert-Lewin is a man reborn still at Elland Road. What a signing he's been.

Why Calvert-Lewin might just be Farke's best signing at Leeds

While he didn't navigate the perils of Championship promotion like so many under Daniel Farke's watch, Leeds' leading number nine was so vital in maintaining their place in the top flight last season.

Perhaps the key beneficiary of the shift in formation following the trip to the Etihad, Calvert-Lewin embarked on a stunning run of festive form, following an initial slow start to the campaign.

It was a summer in which so many Premier League clubs spent big on strikers, be it Viktor Gyokeres at Arsenal, Benjamin Sesko at Manchester United or Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike at Liverpool, although the Leeds man comfortably outscored that quartet.

In fact, the only new centre-forward signing to sit above him in the scoring charts was Chelsea's Joao Pedro on 15, with Morgan Gibbs-White and Ollie Watkins the only two English players to score more than Calvert-Lewin.

It's easy to forget that this was a man who had, checks notes, scored just 12 league goals across the previous three seasons combined, and while injury was a key factor in those woes, he had actually started 26 games in 2023/24, alongside a further 19 in 2024/25.

That remarkable resurgence, alongside the bargain nature of his free transfer switch, surely boosts his case to be Farke's best signing so far. In an era of inflated valuations and extortionate prices, landing Calvert-Lewin for 'nothing' remains stellar business.

Can Leeds repeat the trick again, even with the window now shut?

How Leeds can repeat Calvert-Lewin success with free transfer

It wasn't quite the end-of-window splash that some might have been expecting, although the Elland Road side did acquire Melvin Bard and Jean-Matteo Bahoya on deadline day.

There had also been talk regarding the club's interest in RB Leipzig striker, Conrad Harder, although the young Dane has instead moved on to Strasbourg, while long-term target Zian Flemming has joined newly-promoted Ipswich Town.

At present, the Whites only have Lukas Nmecha in reserve in terms of genuine striker options, having allowed Joel Piroe to depart for West Ham United on an initial loan basis.

With that in mind, it wouldn't be the worst idea to keep an eye on the free agent market, with TEAMtalk reporting that Leeds are one of the clubs to have held talks regarding a possible move for Anthony Martial.

It is said that the string of Premier League clubs named, which includes Everton and Newcastle United, aren't actively pursuing the Frenchman, although they have been made aware of his availability following contact via intermediaries.

For his own part, the 30-year-old - who left Mexican side Monterrey back in June - is open to a return to the Premier League, having previously spent nine years at Manchester United.

It's not been a happy spell since leaving Old Trafford in 2024, amid his woes with Monterrey and with Greek side AEK Athens, with Martial also seeing his final days in Manchester punctuated by injury.

There is certainly a similarity to Calvert-Lewin's latter days at Everton in that sense, with the ex-Man United man scoring only 12 league goals from the start of 2020/21 until the end of 2023/24.

Like Calvert-Lewin, it's perhaps fair to say his best work came during COVID, having scored 17 league goals in that disrupted 2019/20 campaign. As for the Englishman, he peaked on Merseyside around that same time, scoring 13 that year, prior to netting 16 in 2020/21.

That's not to say Martial only enjoyed one standout season in Manchester, having hit ten league goals in 2018/19, nine in 2017/18, as well as 11 in his debut 2015/16 campaign.

His overall record in the Premier League stands at 63 goals in 209 games, having also supplied 28 assists. For context, that compares favourably to Calvert-Lewin, who has scored 72 in 276 games, while supplying 16 assists.

Martial is at a similar stage of his career, perhaps ready for one final chance to find his groove again and recapture what he showed in flashes for the Red Devils.

At his best, the one-time Monaco man is a supreme finisher and a real natural goalscorer, surely worth taking a punt on, just as Calvert-Lewin was a year ago.

As Farke has already shown, he's the man to get players back fit and firing again.