Leeds have inserted themselves into the race to sign Lukas Nmecha on loan from Manchester City, according to the Sun’s transfer expert Alan Nixon.
Nixon made the claim on his personal Twitter page on Friday afternoon, after he’d said that Swansea, Blackburn and West Brom were also bidding for his signature.
Leeds United already have winger Jack Harrison on loan from Manchester City after a personal intervention from Marcele Bielsa. Bielsa and Pep Guardiola have a close relationship and Leeds will be hoping that will have some bearing on the negotiations.
Good move for Leeds?
It would be a very good move. Nmecha, who stands 6ft 1in but also has blistering pace, is another of Man City’s top young talents who played three times in pre-season for the senior side, scoring against Bayern Munich. Nmecha was thought highly enough of to make two Premier League appearances last season, against West Ham and Brighton late on in the season. He’s also prolific at Under-23 level with 20 goals in 17 games across all competitions. The feeling is that he would be ready for the Championship and Guardiola would be expecting first-team game-time. With Patrick Bamford as the main striker and Nmecha as back-up, Leeds would have a potent attack.
This is Futbol rating: 7/10
Likely to happen?
Leeds might be late to the party but they’ve got the Guardiola/Bielsa link to pull out of the bag and that surely gives them an advantage over their rivals. Guardiola still holds Bielsa in high regard and it would be good for Nmecha and Harrison to play together. It could all come down to game-time obviously – how much Guardiola wants for Nmecha and which club can offer it to him. We’d like to think Leeds just hold the advantage here, but there are other big teams in for him.
This is Futbol rating: 6/10