And so the search goes on.
Still looking to fill the hole left by Pontus Jansson’s departure, The Mirror are reporting, via The Daily Star, that Leeds are looking to sign Aston Villa’s centre back James Chester.
James Chester is in a bit of a sticky place in his career. He’s just turned 30, which his usually the age that player start to get offered one-year deals by football clubs. However, if he can keep his play up to his previous standards, like in 2017/18 when Villa reached the first of their two consecutive play-off finals by keeping 22 clean sheets along the way.
Or at the very least get 80-85% of that play, then he will certainly be of some use. And let’s not forget his ability in the opposition penalty area too, scoring eleven goals and getting one assist during his time in the Championship.
However, there are a couple of reasons to indicate that Leeds should stay well away from him.
If you look at his comments about his injury that cost him the latter part of last season, then there should be a bright red flashing warning light about going after someone who could go down again at any minute.
He said: “I have damaged my body indefinitely. It is something I am going to have to manage for the rest of my career”.
Then there’s the cost. All the reports circulating suggest that the deal could cost as much as £7.5m, £2m more than what Leeds received for Pontus Jansson from Brentford. Forking out that much for someone that old and with that massive injury scare is a bit of a risky move, and given how Leeds’ finances aren’t exactly going in their favour at the moment, they would be better off looking for someone cheaper or at the very least trying to negotiate the price for Chester down substantially.
Leeds need to address the centre back position probably more than any other position this summer. Now that the attacking issues have been sorted out, and with under three weeks to go until the window shuts they need to be quick about it though.
This is why you don’t sell someone unless you’ve got someone lined up to replace them, you should handle it the way Nottingham Forest did with their managerial moves over the summer.