According to Ger Lynch and his YouTube channel Leeds United – The View, Leeds United are being linked with 23-year-old, AS Roma midfielder Nicolò Zaniolo.
The midfielder is out of contract at the end of the season and Calciomercato has reported that the West Yorkshire club have shown interest in the playmaker. The Whites may face competition for the player with clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Newcastle United reportedly tracking the Italian international in the past.
Leeds are looking to bolster their midfield options with players like Adam Forshaw and Archie Gray suffering injuries of late. If one of either Tyler Adams or Marc Roca were to sustain an injury the midfield would be looking rather thin, leaving only Sam Greenwood and Darko Gyabi to fill in.
Jesse Marsch’s side have recently been linked with a bid for Angers midfielder Azzedine Ounahi, but the Moroccon World Cup star has also gained interest from clubs such as Napoli and now Aston Villa are rumoured to be in the race for the midfielder.
Ger Lynch said, “According to Calciomercato, Leeds are linked with Nicolò Zaniolo. The AS Roma midfielder is 23 years of age, had a pretty good season, 94 appearances in total for Roma, has been capped 11 times by Italy as well, has two goals for them and scored thirteen goals for Roma. He is out of contract I believe at the end of the season and Leeds are claimed to have inquired about the player’s availability. A fee in the region of £30-£35 million is what’s being touted but Newcastle are also rumoured to be in the mix looking at the player.”
“A good midfielder, he has been playing as a 10 but he can play as an eight as well, more options in that midfield area with Klichy leaving. Klichy was kind of a 10 anyway, so with him leaving it kind of makes sense as an extra place and these are all rumours, there’s no substantial truth to these yet we’re going to see what happens with them as we always say, but if you look through it, player fits, good age 23 years of age, the fee might be the issue, Leeds were trying to put money aside from the Rutter deal to get Ounahi, the Ounahi thing seems to be a bit messed up because Angers want the player back on loan for the rest of the season, Leeds aren’t willing to do that so, it could be a case of Leeds are moving on from Ounahi, or they might not be, this could all just be just rumours and speculation.”
“So, a good midfielder, good age, playing at a good level, would be a sensible signing, he is out of contract at the end of the season, so could be a case that Leeds could get him earlier because of that. But again as I say a fee of £30-£35 million is a lot of money. Especially when we were trying to pinch a few pennies from here and there in order to get the Ounahi deal done.”
There is still plenty of time left in the transfer window for Leeds to bring in some more quality and if they are to bring in either Azzedine Ounahi or Nicolò Zaniolo, The Whites fans will be pretty happy about the transfer window so far.
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