Leeds United are in talks to sign Peterborough United duo Marcus Maddison and Jack Marriott, according to a reliable journalist.
Sporting Life correspondent Tom Carnduff claimed on his personal Twitter account on Saturday morning that the Yorkshire giants have held recent discussions with the League One club about prising the prolific pair from London Road.
The future of football transfers – cryptic Instagram messages. Although Marriott and Maddison will both leave this window anyway. #LUFC have been keen on both in the past though, and have had recent talks with Peterborough too. Interesting to see if anything else develops. pic.twitter.com/0Qm6A0Dmff
— Tom Carnduff (@TomCarnduff) July 14, 2018
Carnduff, who frequently delivers Leeds information, explained that both centre-forward Marriott and playmaker Maddison will leave Peterborough before the transfer window shuts on 9 August.
Good move for Leeds?
Definitely. Marriott is the outstanding centre-forward in the bottom two leagues, with his 33 goals in 56 matches last season demonstrative of his prowess and clinical finishing. He would be a massive upgrade on Leeds’ current centre-forwards Caleb Ekuban, Tyler Roberts and Kemar Roofe, none of whom are the 20-goals-a-season man they so desperately need. As for Maddison, he is both goal scorer and goal creator. No player in English football has supplied more assists in the last three seasons, and his remarkable 2017-18 output – 12 goals and 23 assists from all competitions – shows why Championship clubs are beating a path to his door.
This Is Futbol rating 9/10
Likely to happen?
Can they sign them both? That’s extremely unlikely, given the combined value of around £13million. But Peterborough have confirmed Maddison is on the transfer list and that the asking price has been met by an unnamed club, but the payment schedule was not to the liking of chairman Darragh MacAnthony. As for Marriott, he will also cost a whopping £6million-plus fee after his sensational 2017-18 campaign.
This Is Futbol rating 3/10