Championship

Leeds fans react to Merida interest

Photo of James Turner James Turner | 13:04 26/09/17

Leeds United are reportedly keeping close tabs on Osasuna playmaker Fran Merida – and fans have taken to Twitter to react to the out-of-window transfer link.

The Mail claim that the Championship leaders are compiling a dossier on the left-footed creator as they continue to look at players who can take their side to the next level.

The Gazette reported that Middlesbrough tried to sign Merida in 2015 when he was a free agent, and he even trained under then-manager Aitor Karanka with a view to signing a permanent deal.

Karanka explained he was brought in as potential cover at the time, only for injuries to clear and for the deal to fail to get off the ground.

This was before Middlesbrough appointed Leeds technical director Victor Orta, but the pair are close and both are evidently aware of Merida’s talent.

Merida, 27, is a gifted playmaker renowned for his vision and technical quality, and shares many of the qualities of his countryman Samuel Saiz, who has made such a big impact at Leeds since his £3million summer transfer from Huesca.

Merida, who spent five years at Arsenal after joining their academy aged 16 from Barcelona, also spent 18 months at second-tier Huesca, where he had an impressive record of 10 goals from 60 matches.

Leeds fans on social media are unsurprised at the speculation that they are looking at another Spain-based player after the arrival of Saiz and a string of youngsters who have joined their Under-23s squad.

This Is Futbol has rounded up some of the best tweets:

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