Yorkshire Evening Post correspondent Phil Hay has delivered an optimistic double update over the club’s pursuit of Swansea winger Daniel James.
With the fee said to be the sticking point at the moment, Hay said that “wages won’t be an issue” which suggests that personal terms will be a formality if the two clubs can agree.
However, he did say that there are other players Swansea would rather sell than their 21-year-old winger.
In a follow-up tweet, he said that despite this, Leeds think that Swansea will ultimately let the player go.
Hay delivered the updates on Wednesday afternoon on his personal Twitter page.
wages won't be an issue but there are other players who Swansea would much rather sell before him.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) January 23, 2019
complicated situation at Swansea. They're trying to hack down costs and their wage bill but there are players they'd much rather lose than James. All the same, sounds like players need to be sold and Leeds think Swansea will ultimately let him go.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) January 23, 2019
OPINION
It looks like this is a potential deal that’s not going to get done anytime soon, and could roll on until the end of the window. That’s not an issue for Leeds with the transfer deadline coming mid-next week. However, that’s presuming it gets over the line. If it drags on and then falls down at the last minute, Leeds are going to struggle to get a Plan B through. The good news is that if wages aren’t an issue, personal terms should be easy to agree. That just leaves a fee. Swansea need to sell and all the noise coming from Elland Road is that Leeds are confident that Swansea will blink and sell at a price that’s agreeable to them. We would think that would be just over £3million. We could see a deal being struck for £3.5million which would represent good business for Leeds as they hunt for an automatic promotion spot.