Leeds United are interested in a January deal for Maccabi Tel Aviv striker Dor Turgeman as 49ers Enterprises look at ways to improve Daniel Farke’s squad for the second half of the season.
Turgeman has scored nine goals in 16 appearances for Tel Aviv so far this term and Leeds are said to be impressed with what they have seen.
As such, Leeds have approached Tel Aviv over a potential deal for Turgeman and reports suggest a fee of around £4.1 million could be enough to get the deal done, though the Israeli side are reluctant to lose him in January.
Turgeman is an international teammate of Manor Solomon who has began to show his true quality in recent weeks following a difficult start to life at Elland Road since a loan switch from Tottenham.
Farke does already have three senior strikers in his squad but not one of them have been able to really make that starting spot their own.
Dor Turgeman could spell end for Patrick Bamford at Leeds
Though striker is clearly a position which could be improve, Turgeman’s arrival would leave Leeds with far too many options considering Farke operates with just one player leading the line.
Mateo Joseph and Joel Piroe have shared the starts equally between them this season, making it difficult to see Farke allowing either one of those two to leave in the middle of a promotion race.
That would undoubtedly leave Patrick Bamford as the most likely candidate to leave, having very much been demoted to third choice under Farke. Another player arriving ahead of him would almost certainly spell the end of his time at the club.
Jon Newsome believes Bamford will be frustrated at his lack of minutes in recent months and that is only like to grow if another body came in ahead of him.
Either January or next summer does feel like the time to move on both from the club’s and Bamford’s perspective, as he enters the final few years of his career.
Bamford won’t want to spend too much more of that not playing and so it would not be a surprise if he approached Farke over a move if Leeds land their newest reported target in Turgeman.
At the same time, Leeds also won’t want to keep a player around the squad who no longer wants to be there.
Turgeman record in 2024/25 vs Leeds strikers
| Turgeman | Piroe | Joseph | Bamford | |
| Appearances (starts) | 16 (13) | 19 (11) | 18 (9) | 8 (1) |
| Minutes | 1111 | 978 | 873 | 167 |
| Goals | Nine | Seven | Two | Zero |
| Assists | Four | Two | Three | Zero |
As shown by the data, Bamford is very much the anomaly in terms of minutes and goal contributions so far this season.
His game time has been significantly less than all of those he is, and could be competing with from January onwards, making him the ideal candidate to move on.
As mentioned, a fourth competitor is only going to make things more difficult for him, so let’s see if Leeds can get the Turgeman deal done.
Receive a digest of our best Leeds content each week direct to your mailbox
