Leeds United may be forced to cash in on five of their biggest playing assets if they fail to secure promotion this season, according to the Daily Mail.
The newspaper claim first-team stars Mateusz Klich, Kemar Roofe, Kalvin Phillips, Jack Clarke and Bailey Peacock-Farrell could be made available if the club remain in the Championship in 2019-20.
The Mail report Roofe, Klich and Peacock-Farrell will all have one year remaining on their contracts in the summer, while academy products Phillips and Clarke could attract sizeable fees.
OPINION
This is the doomsday scenario that no Leeds fan wants; no promotion, an owner with an unsustainable financial model and the sale of key playing assets. The faithful have watched plenty of their stars leave for big-money fees in the last decade-and-a-half, and it would be truly gut-wrenching for there to be a repeat at the end of an uplifting campaign that has promised, and could still yield, so much. There is no doubt the team would be severely damaged if this star quintet were sold. They have all been key men this season, with youthful trio Phillips, Clarke and Peacock-Farrell jewels of an academy in which Marcelo Bielsa has demonstrated unstinting faith. They would all raise major fees, especially Clarke and Phillips, who could each possibly fetch north of £10million apiece. As for Roofe and Klich, they would walk into pretty much every side in the Championship, and could attract Premier League interest, too, if they end the season on fire.