Middlesbrough are eyeing big-money moves for Leeds United defenders Charlie Taylor and Kyle Bartley, according to the Sunday Mirror.
The 18 June print edition of the newspaper claim that Boro manager Garry Monk is ready to return to his former club to try to sign the titans of United’s 2016-17 campaign.
Left-back Taylor, 23, and centre-back Bartley, 25, were titans of one of the Championship’s best defences as Leeds pushed strongly for promotion until a final-month collapse meant they finished in seventh place.
Both Taylor and Bartley have contracts at Leeds that expire at the end of this month, when the former becomes a free agent and the latter returns to parent club Swansea for the final year of his deal.
The Sunday Mirror report that Monk is armed with a £20million transfer kitty to strengthen a Boro team that recently slipped into the second tier following their relegation from the Premier League.
Taylor, who has also been targeted by West Brom, will cost a multi-million pound transfer fee even though he is out of contract from 1 July as Leeds are owed compensation for developing their academy product under FIFA rules for player under the age of 24.
Monk managed Bartley at both Elland Road and former club Swansea, although Paul Clement, the manger of the Welsh side, has said the defender has a big role to play next season.
Monk left Leeds in dramatic circumstances at the end of May and was replaced by little-known Thomas Christiansen last Thursday following a three-week manager search.