Leeds United are set to reignite their interest in a former transfer target this summer as fresh reports have emerged.
According to Football Insider, the Yorkshire giants are keen on making a move for Reading playmaker John Swift having been on their radar for over a year now.
It’s claimed that the 25-year-old is on the list of potential midfield options and that the Royals could be open to selling the £3.6m-rated ace due to their financial problems.
Swift has been in impressive form this campaign, providing five goals and ten assists from 35 league outings, via WhoScored, whilst he is also averaging 2.3 key passes, 1.8 dribbles and 1.3 tackles per game from a primarily attacking midfield role.
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Whites boss Marcelo Bielsa is evidently a fan of the former Chelsea youngster too having lavished praise on him back in February following a 1-0 victory, he said: “Swift is a great player, I value him a lot. He is a player who appears suddenly in attack and the same in transition between defence and attack, but especially when he passes from the defence to the attack.”
Whilst back in 2016, Three Lions chief Gareth Southgate tipped Swift for a “great future,” and it’s fair to suggest that he’s been somewhat correct given the Englishman’s tally for the current campaign.
Statsbomb have also lauded the midfielder for putting up “outstanding” numbers in a creative role. These links are all very exciting.
Leeds have far too much of a reliance on Pablo Hernandez, that much has been seen since the return to league action. The Spaniard may be 35 but he’s arguably Bielsa’s most important player. He makes the game look easy and is the vital cog between midfield and attack.
But the club can’t rely on him much longer, so could Swift become his successor? Very much so, in fact, in some ways he’s been Reading’s Pablo – as seen by the graphic below (via AllStatsArentWe).
In fact, Swift has majorly outperformed Hernandez this campaign. He’s provided more goals and more assists, and is averaging more key passes, dribbles and crosses per game. He’s even got a higher passing success rate at 82.4% compared to the Spanish wizard’s 76.7%, as per WhoScored.
Leeds should no further than the 25-year-old playmaker, especially as he can improve even more with Hernandez still in the ranks.