Leeds United need a striker this month, there’s no doubt about that. Eddie Nketiah’s recall has left them with Patrick Bamford as the only senior striker in the squad.
They have targeted a number of players, such as Che Adams, Andre Gray and Dwight Gayle. but it seems as if there are plenty of roadblocks in the way of their pursuit of these strikers.
Phil Hay was running through a list of striker targets for Leeds, but one by one he was naming issues around why they couldn’t sign this month.
On his podcast (The Phil Hay Show 17/1/20 50:00) he stated that Gray’s wages may be too high, Ralph Hasenhuttl doesn’t want Adams to leave, and Gayle’s injury makes him too much of a risk.
However, he did say that there was one man the Whites could get.
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What’s been said then?
Hay was getting towards the end of his list of strikers, and he came on to talking about another of Leeds’ targets.
The journalist stated that Leeds could get Billy Sharp, but he’d go on to add that he’s not one that Bielsa is too keen on.
“As I said earlier, they could get Billy Sharp” Hay said (The Phil Hay Show 17/1/20 51:50)
“Apparently Middlesbrough are quite keen on him as well or they’ve at least been looking at him, but he isn’t quite falling into the category of player that Bielsa would like.”
Got to listen to the manager
Just because there is a viable route for United to go and sign Sharp it doesn’t mean that they should go and do it.
The manager reportedly isn’t too keen on signing the Sheffield United captain despite the fact that he scored 23 goals in the Championship last season, and Victor Orta needs to learn his lesson when it comes to signing players the manager clearly isn’t a fan off.
Eddie Nketiah and Jack Clarke were signed last summer, and the boss didn’t have much use for them. Clarke played just 19 minutes of league football and Nketiah started only two matches before the duo were recalled by Tottenham and Arsenal respectively.
Leeds need to bring in a body that Bielsa will be happy with otherwise they could end up with another signing left to rot on the bench. Based on Hay’s comments, they might be better off avoiding this deal in January.
In other news, Leeds may be well-prepared for one departure if they can get this signing over the line.
