Leeds United set to make permanent deal to sign electrifying midfield star as Arthur Melo returns

In the January transfer window, the Old Lady loaned the American to Elland Road, following midfield teammates Denis Zakaria to Chelsea and Arthur Melo to Liverpool.

The latter of the three is regarded as the most “burning” issue for the Serie A club, as his €37.5 million [£33 million] option to stay at Anfield is “truly unlikely” to be exercised.

According to Gazzetta, compared to the Brazilian’s inevitable return to Turin, the Whites midfielder is far more likely to stay in West Yorkshire.

Despite having a €33 million [£29 million] option on McKennie, Leeds United are not looking to keep him past the end of the season, according to a report from 90min on 22 March.

As a result of the turmoil, Juventus has been attempting to shed costly assets, but it does not appear that they have done particularly well with it.

Arthur’s move to Merseyside has been a disaster, with less than 90 minutes of first-team action all season due to surgery, his only two full games coming for the under-21s, and not a single minute in the Premier League.

Zakaria’s presence at Stamford Bridge has been slightly more successful when he has been selected, but he has still only made 12 appearances across all competitions this season.

With N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic injured earlier this season it looked like Zakaria had a chance to establish himself to stay long-term, but Graham Potter has been bafflingly reluctant to use the Swiss international, and with £106.8million since splashed out on Enzo Fernandez it looks like the door has probably closed.

In comparison to those two deals the McKennie move is a roaring success so far, with appearances in every Premier League game since his arrival.

However, the jury is still out on whether he did enough in those games to justify such a large outlay at the end of the season, especially given that he arrived under Jesse Marsch and was sacked one game later.

If Javi Gracia is successful in keeping the club afloat, it is possible that McKennie was just Victor Orta’s last ditch effort to save Marsch.

In other Leeds United news, the discontent in Italy has spread to another club, whose fans are in for a “horrible awakening” as one key player could be on his way to Elland Road this summer.

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