Leeds United are on the verge of something really special. They’ve had to endure 16 years of pain, but that appears to be finally coming to an end with the club having one foot through the promotion door.
And manager Marcelo Bielsa is going to have an almighty task on his hands as he’ll undoubtedly have to bolster his armoury for a fair crack at the top-flight – you only have to look at how Fulham and Villa have suffered in recent campaigns.
The Whites’ squad depth is probably a weak spot if you could pinpoint any sort of problem and that’s been epitomised this week with an injury suffered to Kalvin Phillips. There’s no genuine defensive midfield option behind him.
However, recent reports suggest that the Yorkshire giants have already put in an offer to a potential alternative or back-up.
Sport Bild claim that Leeds have held preliminary talks with Nurnberg ace Patrick Erras, who stands a whopping 6 foot 5 inches in height.
Should Leeds nab Erras on a free?
Yes!
No!
The 25-year-old is wanted by clubs across his homeland as well as several more in England, and he’s confirmed this news publically too.
“There are some clubs from home and abroad that are interested. It will be really exciting.”
Erras to Onetz.
Erras has featured 22 times for the Bundesliga 2 outfit, where he has provided three goals whilst also averaging 1.9 clearances, 1.3 tackles and 0.6 shots per game, via WhoScored.
Back in 2016, he was considered as a successor to Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka after he left Borussia Monchengladbach with the German colossus being described as a “weapon” in the air.
In fact, Erras has outranked Phillips in a couple of key areas this season, including blocks (0.5) and clearances (1.9) per game whilst his passing success rate is higher at 83% too – just three key metrics a defensive midfielder should possess.
On the contrary, the 24-year-old Englishman is superior when it comes to tackles and long balls per match.
Having the pair of them in the Premier League next season would be an intriguing prospect, that’s for sure.