Leeds United want to sign Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster by the end of this week, according to the Daily Star.
The newspaper claim the Championship leaders are eager to land the former England international, 30, in time to feature in their Championship clash against Stoke City on Saturday.
The Daily Star report Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa has given the green light for his club to land Forster as he looks to reinforce the goalkeeper position.
OPINION
It is unclear whether Leeds are keen to land Forster in addition to Real Madrid’s Kiko Casilla, or as an alternative to him. It emerged on Friday night that United are close to landing Casilla by buying him out of his Real contract, although subsequents reports have stated they could bring in two new keepers this month. That would be overkill. Bailey Peacock-Farrell is an ideal number two, although his recent performances have shown he needs a spell out of the team to eradicate the flaws in his game. Leeds don’t need three senior keepers. Two will do. Casilla is a deal that makes sense, as he has pedigree and experience, but is within the Championship club’s price range, as there will be no fee to Real Madrid but they will take on his reported £50,000-a-week salary. Stats site Spotrac report experienced campaigner Forster earns £70,000-a-week, which is the going rate for a six-times England cap with 106 Premier League appearances under his belt as well as a lorry-load of matches for Celtic in the SPL.