Leeds United are in the market for a left-back among other signings but a Premier League manager has just confirmed one defender on Leeds’ radar is set for a move to European club.
Sam Byram has put pen to paper on another one-year deal at Leeds, but the injury-prone Thorp Arch academy product is the club’s only cover at full-back with Jayden Bogle and Junior Firpo starting options.
Leeds need cover and given Byram is naturally a right-back, it is expected Leeds will look to sign a left-back before the deadline on August 30. Plenty of left-backs have been linked with a move to Yorkshire.
Milan’s Fode Ballo-Toure is one on Leeds’ radar after a poor loan at Fulham last season. Ireland U21 star Anselmo MacNulty has impressed at Dutch side Zwolle and MacNulty is also being linked with Leeds.
Gary O’Neil confirms Wolves star has joined European club
Leeds were also eyeing Wolves defender Hugo Bueno. The Spaniard impressed on occasions for Gary O’Neil’s side last season, playing 25 times in all competitions and being described as “excellent”.
Celtic and Feyenoord were also interested in Bueno and now it appears he has chosen to move to The Eredivisie, with Arne Slot’s old side. Nothing has been confirmed by Wolves as of Tuesday morning.
But, Wolves boss O’Neil has told the Shropshire Star that Bueno is moving to Feyenoord and he gave his verdict. He says it will be a good move, even though he wanted to keep Bueno at Wolves this summer.
“I think it will be good for him. I would have loved to kept him, but Rayan’s been fantastic for a while and Hugo doesn’t want to sit behind Rayan, and wait for him to slip up or get injured to get some football.”
The issue Leeds have with convincing Wolves to loan Hugo Bueno
Not just Bueno, either. But Daniel Farke and Leeds cannot promise Wolves that Bueno is going to start week in, week out. Indeed, Firpo would probably remain first choice over Bueno if the latter did join.
Why would a Premier League club send a young player, or a fringe player to Leeds to just warm the bench there? It was an issue in a move for Bueno, and it also saw Hull City sign Fabio Carvalho in January.
It probably explains why Leeds made a permanent bid for Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and tried to land the Palace star with a view to a long-term project, rather than just get the Sheffield United-bound winger on loan.
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