Leeds United have been installed joint-favourites to sign Bradford City centre-forward Charlie Wyke by tomorrow night (Wednesday), according to the latest bookmakers’ odds.
BetVictor priced Leeds, Middlesbrough and Sunderland at 6/1 on Tuesday afternoon to seal a last-gasp swoop for Wyke, 25, ahead of the 11pm transfer deadline on Wednesday night.
Norwich (8/1), Hull (10/1) and Nottingham Forest (12/1) are also in the betting race to land the former Carlisle front man before the January window shuts.
The Mirror reported in their live transfer blog last Wednesday [11:15am] that a clutch of Championship teams are interested in the Valley Parade powerhouse forward.
Leeds were previously second-favourites to sign Wyke, with Boro in pole position, but an update in the market has seen Thomas Christiansen’s side emerge as joint-favourites.
Wyke has been in prolific form for Bradford this season, scoring 13 goals in 30 appearances across all competitions, as well as supplying seven assists.
OPINION
Wyke’s form has made Championship clubs sit up and take notice this season, and it is little wonder there is strong interest in him before the January window shuts. Since joining from Carlisle 12 months ago, the front man has been a goal and assist machine, scoring 20 goals and providing 11 assists in 49 appearances. Some might sniffily claim that Wyke is not proven in the Championship and that League One is an entirely different world. There is some truth to that, but everyone is going wild over Peterborough’s Jack Marriott and the same logic applies. Moreover, Kemar Roofe was signed from Oxford United on the back of a stellar League Two campaign and he has not done too bad two divisions higher, has he? Wyke could be a fine January acquisition for Leeds and better than some of the striker names bandied about in the last week.