Leeds United are yet to really taste the benefits of those Red Bull connections, but that could soon change if Premier League football returns to Elland Road for 2025/26.
While not quite as plugged into the taurine-powered machine as the likes of RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg – the energy drink giants are merely a minority investor in the Championship leaders – Leeds United could yet stand to benefit from their new-found relationships.
Football correspondent Graeme Bailey, speaking exclusively to Leeds United News, feels that those Red Bull links could be integral as Leeds reportedly fix eyes upon ‘one of the best midfielders in Europe’.
At least, that is the description Nikola Elich, his former Krasnodar coach, used when asked to sum up Eduard Spertsyan back in 2024.
A two-time Russian Premier League Midfielder of the Year, the £17 million-rated Spertsyan was linked with Leeds during the January transfer window.
And while Bailey is yet to hear anything particularly concrete regarding a potential switch to Elland Road for the 24-year-old Armenia international, he does suggest that Spertsyan might well end up in West Yorkshire in part due to those Leeds’ Red Bull contacts.
Red Bull relations could help Leeds United land Eduard Spertsyan
“[Sources] just said he’s a player of interest to a lot of English clubs. He’s a well-known player in circles,” Bailey explains. “I did get told that he might be a general Red Bull target so that fits within the Leeds circle now.
“Keep an eye on that with the Red Bull situation. With promotion, there will be more Red Bull.”
They say Red Bull gives you wings. But does it also give you an uber-talented, creatively-minded midfielder with a penchant for breaking into double figures?
Spertsyan scored 14 for Krasnodar during the 2022/23 season and followed that up with 11 the year after.
His output has dropped a little of late – only six goals in 25 matches – but Spertsyan is still the driving force behind Krasnodar’s title charge. After finishing second last term, Krasnodar are currently ahead of reigning champions Zenit St Petersburg and dreaming of a first-ever Russian Premier League crown.
Interestingly, in conversation with Russian publication Championat this week, Spertsyan refused to rule out a move to Leeds on the basis that Daniel Farke’s charges can go one step further this term and secure automatic promotion.
He did, however, insist that there have been no discussions at this stage with one-time Krasnodar boss Farke regarding a potential reunion in England.
Russian Premier League star open to joining Daniel Farke’s Leeds
“Why not?,” Spertsyan said when asked if he would consider a move to Leeds in the summer. “They will most likely get into the Premier League, they are in first place.”
The fact that Spertsyan is still a Krasnodar player – two years after he provided 28 goal contributions across a breakout 2022/23 season – is a major surprise.
The complications arising as a result of the Ukrainian conflict may have contributed – English-based clubs were blocked from doing business with teams in Russia at one point – though Spertsyan confirms that the likes of Girona, Ajax, RC Lens, Juventus and even Paris Saint-Germain have made their interest known in the recent past.
“For PSG, my agent was in Paris. She had some communication about me, and that’s it,” Spertsyan adds, his former Krasnodar teammate Moti Safonov now the back-up goalkeeper at the Parc des Princes.
“There was interest and communication from Juventus. Girona approached Krasnodar with an offer in the summer. I was ready to go to Lens too. But, to be honest, their gave Krasnodar less for me than Ajax gave the year before.”
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