Leeds United journalist Phil Hay has shared some insight into the Yorkshire club’s transfer interest in Brentford attacker Ollie Watkins.
This comes after Hay recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s Ornstein & Chapman Podcast where he spoke about a range of topics related to Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
On the subject of Leeds’ recent signing of Rodrigo from Valencia, Hay revealed how the club had targeted Watkins before making a move for the Spaniard.
He said: “There were other options for Leeds, particularly Ollie Watkins down at Brentford, who they liked and who they saw as a good fit for the way Bielsa plays and the system that he uses, but realistically, Watkins was going to cost roughly the same amount of money – potentially more, depending on what Brentford were holding out for, and the likelihood was that there wouldn’t have been a significant difference in wages if Watkins was looking for a significant rise on top of what he was earning down at Brentford.”
Watkins signed to Brentford back in the 2017 summer transfer window for a fee of £1.8 million from Exeter City. Since then, the 24-year-old, who is currently valued at £10.8 million, has made 143 appearances for Brentford, in which he has scored 49 goals and provided 17 assists.
Brentford’s 2019/20 Championship season saw Watkins score 26 goals in 49 appearances for the club, earning himself an impressive season rating of 7.26/10 (per WhoScored).
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Given how impressive Watkins was for Brentford from a goalscoring point of view last season, it’s understandable why Leeds would have been interested in trying to sign him this summer.
With Leeds having signed Rodrigo from Valencia for a reported fee of £26 million, it would now seem unlikely for the Yorkshire club to turn their attention back to Watkins and try and add him to their squad this summer.