Leeds United

Leeds exchange deal offered for Bellusci

|
Image for Leeds exchange deal offered for Bellusci

Italian top-flight club Cagliari want to sign Leeds United outcast Giuseppe Bellusci this summer, according to Sardinian newspaper La Nuova Sardegna.

The print edition of the Italian news outlet, cited by Calcio Casteddu, claim that the Serie A side have approached the Championship club about a deal that would take the defender to his homeland permanently.

La Nuova Sardegna report that Cagliari have offered giant defender Bartosz Salamon in exchange for Bellusci in a bid to smooth through the deal.

Aged 26, Salamon is a year younger than Bellusci, a nine-times Poland international and is exactly the same height as Leeds talisman Pontus Jansson, with the duo both standing at 1.94 metres or 6ft 5in tall.

Cagliari appear willing to offload Salamon after he made just 17 appearances last season as they punched above their weight to secure an extremely impressive 11th-place finish.

But he has got impressive pedigree after graduating from the Lech Poznan youth ranks in his native Poland, spending time on the books of Italian giants AC Milan as well as the likes of Sampdoria, Brescia and Foggia.

The Yorkshire Evening Post claim that Leeds have allowed Bellusci to remain in Italy and resolve his future with a view to pushing through another move to a Serie A club.

The Italian centre-back spent the 2016-17 season on loan at Empoli, where he made 33 appearances in all competitions, but their relegation from the top flight on the final day of the season eliminated his chances of converting his temporary stay into a permanent one.

Bellusci, who has another 12 months left to run on his Leeds deal, has been deemed surplus to requirements by new manager Thomas Christiansen and did not return to pre-season training with the first-team squad at the start of this week.

His performances and attitude were the subject of much criticism from pundits and supporters during his two seasons at Leeds following his arrival in the summer of 2014.

Leeds are likely to be in the market for at least one centre-back this summer as Kyle Bartley has returned to parent club Swansea after a hugely successful campaign in the defence assembled by recently-departed manager Garry Monk.

The Yorkshire giants are reportedly working on eight new signings after sealing the arrival of midfielder Mateusz Klich and Felix Wiedwald, with three of them centre-backs.

Share this article