Leeds United are expected to complete a fifth summer signing this week in Sean Longstaff, but more new additions will follow and a Ligue 1 playmaker has been added to the shopping list.
A busy day on Tuesday saw Leeds announced Gabriel Gudmundsson’s arrival, a new deal for Sam Byram and confirmation that plans to increase Elland Road to 53,000 have been sent to Leeds City Council.
Before the end of the week, Leeds are also expected to announce Sean Longstaff’s arrival. The midfielder is expected to join for £12m from Newcastle, after David Ornstein reported Longstaff had agreed terms.
But Leeds still have plenty to do, mostly in attack. A new goalkeeper is required, but so is a starting striker as well as a no.10 and a winger. Leeds have now added an attacking midfielder to their summer list.
Roma have bid rejected for attacking midfielder on Leeds radar
After a stunning season under new Southampton manager Will Still at Lens, 24-year-old Neil El Aynaoui has emerged as a target for Leeds. Sunderland, Juventus and AC Milan are also trailing the Moroccan.
It comes after scoring eight goals for Lens from midfield last season, which came in the space of just 24 Ligue 1 matches. Overnight, Fabrizio Romano delivered an update on El Aynaoui’s future this summer.
He says that Roma have made a bid to sign El Aynaoui, but that bid has been rejected by Lens. Indeed, Lens are trying to convince the France-born playmaker to stay and sign a contract with the Ligue 1 side.
He said: “Lens have rejected AS Roma proposal for Neil El Aynaoui and improved their proposal for the midfielder to stay. AS Roma won’t proceed at current conditions, prepared to focus on different targets.”
What Will Still said about El Aynaoui last season at Lens
The red-haired gaffer, renowned for his impressive bilingual approach to management in France in which he would deliver passionate teamtalks in both French and English, has just taken over at Southampton.
But Still is also renowned for his ability to get the best out of young players and he did just that with El Aynaoui. Speaking about El Aynaoui in a Lens press conference, Still heaped praise on the Leeds target.
“Neil is one of the players we can rely on. He’s always positive, very humble. He has energy and technical and tactical qualities that allow him to make a difference. He’s improving steadily every day. He’s hungry.”
Prior to Still’s arrival at Lens, El Aynaoui had only scored one goal in 31 games for Lens. But under Still’s leadership, he has grown into a goalscoring midfielder with eight in 24 games, catching Leeds’ eye.
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