Your round-up of the latest Leeds United headlines as transfer speculation continues to heat up.
Transfer speculation surrounding Leeds United continues to intensify with the summer window now well into its second week and plenty going on up and down the country. Focus among supporters is almost exclusively on the European Championships in Germany but recruitment teams will be hard at work identifying targets, while club chiefs will be trying to stave off competition for their own stars.
Leeds will be busy doing both, with last month’s play-off final defeat to Southampton consigning them to a summer in which top teams come after their best talent, while manager Daniel Farke will be keen to strengthen ahead of another Championship promotion push. It’s set to be a busy summer in West Yorkshire and the YEP has rounded up some of the latest stories surrounding the club.
Millar ‘tracked’
Leeds have emerged as one of several teams across the Championship and Premier League thought to be keeping an eye on Canada’s Liam Millar during this summer’s Copa America. The Athletic names the Whites alongside next season’s promotion rivals Sheffield United and Burnley in ‘heavily tracking’ the 24-year-old.
Millar has quickly cemented his place in Jesse Marsch’s Canada team for the Copa America and started in their 2-0 defeat against Argentina over the weekend. The left-winger is owned by Swiss outfit FC Basel but spent last season on loan at Preston North End, registering five goals and five assists in 35 appearances.
One of those five goals came against Leeds on Boxing Day, with the Lilywhites loanee curling a brilliant 89th-minute winner past Illan Meslier after tormenting Archie Gray for much of the game. Millar has one year remaining on his contract with FC Basel, which is thought to contain a release clause, and is not expected to return to Switzerland.
Chelsea Summerville latest
Chelsea have put a right-footed winger at the top of their summer shopping list but look set to prioritise someone other than Crysencio Summerville. Journalist Simon Phillips reports that after missing out on Michael Olise last week, those in charge at Stamford Bridge will now focus attention on his teammate, Eberechi Eze.
Chelsea held a long-standing interest in Olise but look set to miss out, with the 22-year-old on his way to Bayern in a deal worth £50million. Manager Enzo Maresca is now keen to bring in a right-footed wide option in a bid to balance the squad, and previous links with Summerville would suggest the Dutchman would be right up there among the top targets.
But Eze looks to be the priority, although that could still have an effect on Summerville’s future with reports earlier this summer suggesting Palace ‘will move’ for the Leeds star if they lose one of Olise or Eze – they may now lose both. Brighton remain frontrunners for the Whites winger and are the only team to have reportedly made an approach so far, with Leeds hoping to receive anywhere between £30-40m, depending on a potential bidding war.
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