Leeds United are seemingly in the market for a new central defender with the January transfer window now in full swing, and one target’s club have identified a replacement.
On Saturday afternoon, captain Ethan Ampadu was forced to drop into the middle of the defence with Joe Rodon. Pascal Struijk was out injured with an ankle issue and Max Wober was used at left-back.
It saw Leeds lack Ampadu’s bite in midfield. Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell both played well, the aggression was missing that proved so crucial in away wins over Derby and Oxford recently with Ampadu in midfield.
A centre-back is required to allow Ampadu to step back into midfield when either Struijk or Rodon are missing. Leeds have been linked with a couple of central defenders during the start of the window.
Daniel Farke’s old side identify replacement for £10m-rated target
Leeds have opened talks for Andrew Omobamidele. But, another on the shortlist has just entered the last 18 months of his contract with a side pushing for European qualification at the end of the current season.
Leeds are also eyeing a reunion between Farke and Nico Elvedi. The Switzerland star remains a key player at Gladbach, Farke’s old side and is an old teammate of Wober, who was on loan at Gladbach last term.
It is believed Elvedi would cost £10m, with Farke keen on signing Elvedi ‘now’. Frankfurter Rundschau say Gladbach have now identified a replacement for Elvedi in case he goes, in Groningen defender Kevin Diks.
However, the report also delivers an inevitable stance of Elvedi and that is that he would rather stay with his current side while they push for Europe in the Bundesliga, rather than drop into the Championship.
Nico Elvedi prefers Leeds to a current Premier League side
While he may wait to see if Leeds get promoted to the Premier League before making a decision in the summer, Elvedi does prefer Leeds to Wolves. Elvedi almost joined Wolves back in the summer of 2023.
Elvedi may also want to remain for another reason, in that he is only a few games short of winning the title of most appearances for Gladbach from a foreigner. His fellow countryman Yann Sommer is leading.
He is only 14 games shy of breaking into Gladbach’s all-time appearance makers having clocked up a whopping 312 in the nine years he has spent with the Bundesliga outfit so Elvedi could end up staying.
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