With his contract expiring, and a reunion with Daniel Farke at Leeds United on the cards, it is no secret that the £8 million man is considering ‘another challenge’.
At least, that is how Gerardo Seoane phrases it.
The Borussia Monchengladbach coach knows that, with one of his Bundesliga predecessors reportedly pushing to lure Nico Elvedi to Elland Road, he may have only a few months, or maybe even a few days, left with the experienced Switzerland international.
According to claims from out of Germany, Leeds are hoping to link Elvedi up with Daniel Farke again. The former played under the latter at Borussia Park in the 2022/23 season. Farke even labelled Elvedi one of Europe’s finest central defenders at the time.
And while such claims do appear a little overly-ambitious – the 28-year-old former Zurich man has always been a good defender rather than a particularly great one – Seoane feels that the long-serving, Leeds United-linked Gladbach ace is making considerable progress in his development as he approaches what should be the peak years of his professional career.
Nico Elvedi wants ‘another challenge’ as Leeds United eye Bundesliga ace
Elvedi largely kept Harry Kane and co quiet in open play – the England captain needed a penalty to score the only goal of the game – as Bayern Munich’s perennial bogey club threatened to bloody their noses again this weekend.
And, after a valiant Gladbach defeat, former Bayer Leverkusen boss Seoane opened up on the hard work his 56-cap Swiss stopper has put himself through behind the scenes as he weighs up his future after a decade in Germany.
“Nico has taken a step forward,” Gerardo Seoane tells Kicker. “One point was that he and the staff went into personal analysis again to see how to improve his fitness further, what can be changed and adjusted in general, for example through nutrition.
“Nico is very open and professional in this regard.
“The fact that he has taken this step forward is important for us, but also for him. He has always stressed that he might want to take on another challenge at some point,” adds the coach. “The way to do that is to first play consistently for us and show performance.
“And Nico has impressively demonstrated that since he came back from injury.”
Elvedi not the only centre-back linked with Daniel Farke’s Leeds
Elvedi reportedly has an £8 million release clause in his contract. Should Leeds opt to wait until the summer – Farke expects a ‘quiet’ January – then the Yorkshire giants could get him for free.
Yet, with Joe Rodon, Pascal Struijk and Max Wober acting as Leeds’ only senior centre-backs – even if Joshua Guilavogui did impress there against Harrogate in the FA Cup – Farke could benefit from an addition here and now as Leeds look to finish what they started and secure a return to the Premier League.
Leeds have been linked with Nottingham Forest’s Andrew Omobamidele too, alongside Christopher Wooh of Rennes.
A more ambitious target was Abdukodir Khusanov, the RC Lens starlet who is set to become a Manchester City player for in excess of £30 million this week.
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