Leeds United are yet to make their first summer signing, and yet to even make their first signing of 2025.
January was a testing month for Leeds United. The club had no end of transfer targets and on deadline day, Leeds United made a move to sign Cameron Archer from Southampton, though it never materialised.
And this summer has yet to see any new faces arrive at Elland Road. Though that could soon change with Leeds United pushing to sign Jaka Bijol in a £17million deal from Serie A side Udinese.
Should Bijol arrive then he’d surely be the first of many to do so this summer. Leeds United have a number of transfer targets and they’ve seen numerous links to numerous players emerge since the end of the season.
One name linked soon after promotion was secured was Semih Kilicsoy. The Turkish international has fallen out of favour at Besiktas after a difficult 2024/25 season for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
| Stat (league) | Kilicsoy in 23/24 | Kilicsoy in 24/25 |
| Games | 23 | 32 |
| Goals | 11 | 3 |
| Assists | 3 | 2 |
New club in talks to sign Leeds United transfer target Semih Kilicsoy
In May, it was claimed that Leeds United were flying to Turkey to hold talks with Kilicsoy over a possible summer move to West Yorkshire. The 19-year-old, who is valued at £16million by Besiktas, was first up for sale and is now tipped to leave on loan, but with a potential option to buy inserted.
Besiktas look set to send Kilicsoy out on loan and Leeds United were understood to have kept tabs on the attacker, though Dutch side FC Utrecht are now looking like the front-runners to sign Kilicsoy. Reports in Turkey state that Utrecht and Besiktas are in talks over a possible deal.
Turkish outlet Gazete state that talks between the two are ongoing with Utrecht having offered a club record €10million (£8.5million) deal to sign Kilicsoy, with a 20% sell-on. Besiktas remain keen on a loan-to-buy deal, though, worth €20million (£17million).
Leeds United have quickly turned their attention to another hotshot
Kilicsoy looked like a prime target for Leeds United at one point. But matters move fast in the transfer market and it now looks like Utrecht are the ones set to sign the Besiktas man, either on loan or permanently.
Instead, Farke has bigger fish to fry. Leeds United have made a £22million bid to sign Habib Diarra after the 21-year-old Strasbourg attacker enjoyed a strong 2024/25 season in Ligue 1.
But Diarra’s representatives think he could play for a top team in Europe, not Leeds, and so that move looks like it might be an overly-ambitious one for the Whites, meaning a deal for Kilicsoy could yet be revisited should he still be available.
The summer transfer window is closed for a week whilst the Club World Cup is on and so Leeds United need to be ready to complete some deals when the window re-opens, with time already ticking in the transfer market.
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