Newcastle United are reportedly interested in signing Tyler Roberts this summer with the Leeds United attacker’s contract up in the air, though a new deal is said to be on the table – and Nigel Martyn has told LeedsUnited.News that the Wales international could leave Elland Road for a smaller figure than his £10million price tag. He believes a decision will be made by Roberts himself ahead of the summer window.
Roberts, 22, scored his first Premier League goal of the season on Tuesday evening as Leeds earned a 2-0 win over Southampton – coolly finishing after a break saw Patrick Bamford’s stinging effort well saved by Alex McCarthy. However, it had taken the Welsh attacker 26 Premier League appearances to finally find the back of the net – having had a goal against West Ham United earlier this season, disallowed.
The ex-West Brom and Oxford star is set to enter the last 12 months of his current Leeds deal, since joining the Whites for £4million. Struggling when given the chance in the side, he recently started 12 consecutive Premier League outings but his quality was only evident in glimpses. Rodrigo and Mateusz Klich have starred for Leeds in the last two matches – with Roberts dropped to the bench. Rodrigo has three goals in three games.
The Mail claim that Newcastle are keeping tabs on Roberts ahead of the summer window, while Leeds have offered him a new, long-term deal. Martyn commented on the reports, and his £10million price tag: “How much are players worth these days? It is subjective. There is probably interest, and Leeds are giving him both options. Option one is, here is the contract if you want to sign it – you won’t play every game but you’ll play a chunk of games but on the flipside, we’ll put a big figure up and force Newcastle to pay as much as you can. All teams do both sides.”
Leeds are expected to add new players this summer, and a midfielder is likely to be a high priority. The Whites tried to sign Rodrigo De Paul last summer but were priced out of a move for the Argentina international – while Michael Cuisance failed a medical at Elland Road and instead left Bayern Munich to join French side Marseille on loan. Roberts, then, could easily fall down the pecking order even further this summer.
Despite that, a contract has been tabled. Martyn commented further on the reports and claims that while Leeds may have informed the Mail that they will accept £10million – he reckons a fee could be quite a lot lower than that. With a new deal on the table for Roberts too, Martyn reckons that Leeds are happy to keep him but will be completely open with Roberts – that he is probably not going to play regularly at Elland Road.
“Reports from the north east might say Steve Bruce wants to pay £3million, Leeds will say £10million – and the realistic figure is in between that. It is down to the player and he’s got to assess where he is in the squad. But the fact Leeds have offered him a contract shows they want to keep him, but the’ve probably had talks – that if he wants to find himself a club, he can go and find a club.
“Have Leeds possibly earmarked that money for a new player?” Martyn continued. “They will have a list of players they want to keep, and then a grey area list of players that they might sell if the price is right – and Roberts is that.”
