Leeds United are to launch a double raid on Championship rivals Wolves as they aim to secure defensive reinforcements, according to the Sunday Mirror.
The print edition of the newspaper (page 61, July 9, 2017) claims that manager Thomas Christiansen has set his sight on centre-back Danny Batth and right-back Matt Doherty.
The Sunday Mirror report that mainstay Batth will be allowed to leave for £2million following the summer signings of Porto loanee Willy Boly, Roderick Miranda and free agent Ryan Bennett.
It is said that Wolves are also prepared to listen to offers of £2million for Doherty after the arrival of Barry Douglas from Turkish club Konyaspor.
Christiansen has sanctioned a move for Batth, 26, after suffering the major blow of missing out on Leeds’ number one centre-back target Kyle Bartley, who had an outstanding season on loan at the club last season.
Bartley has returned to his parent club Swansea City, who have insisted he is part of the plans of manager Paul Clement for the upcoming campaign.
It remains to be seen whether Leeds will move to sign Batth and Doherty at the same time as, in reality, double deals or swaps are very rare in the modern transfer market.
Nevertheless, the club are desperate to strengthen in defence, particularly in the key centre-back position where the only senior players are Pontus Jansson and Liam Cooper.
Batth has been a mainstay of the Wolves team since joining from Sheffield Wednesday in 2012, making 191 appearances in all competitions.
Doherty joined from Bury in 2013 and has accumulated 160 appearances, the majority of which have been at right-back, although he has also slotted in at left-back.