Leeds United

Leeds United: Phil Hay discusses Michael Cuisance and Leeds’ central midfield options

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Image for Leeds United: Phil Hay discusses Michael Cuisance and Leeds’ central midfield options

Phil Hay has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s The Phil Hay Show about all things relating to Leeds United.

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Nice easy one to start off with, what number does Phillips wear for Leeds United?

One of the topics that he spent a bit of time on was Leeds’ options in central midfield, and while he was talking about this, he mentioned the Whites’ failed attempts to sign Michael Cuisance.

The Frenchman had agreed to sign from Bayern Munich only for Cuisance to fail his medical, which ended that transfer before he eventually joined Marseille.

Hay believes that one of the reasons the Whites did try to sign Cuisance was the lack of central-midfield options and may look to bolster that area this summer.

He said: “There is a shortage of choice there, I think. We saw in the summer that they came very, very close to signing Michael Cuisance from Bayern Munich.

“That was basically done before the medical threw up issues and Leeds backed out. So, that tells you that they did want something else in the centre of midfield.

“I think what Leeds have got to the point of doing now is not jumping on something because another deal has gone wrong. I think the feeling was, ‘Look, that hasn’t happened; it’s not the end of the world; we’ve got money we can put towards Raphinha instead for now and we can revisit it.’

“I am certain that they will do at the end of this season.”

Do you think Leeds need another central midfielder?

Yes, we need someone else

Yes, we need someone else

No, we don't need anyone else

No, we don't need anyone else

TIF Thoughts on Cuisance and Leeds’ central midfield options…

The 21-year-old Frenchman has proven to be quite versatile in his career and has played 39 games as a central midfielder, so you can see why the Whites might have wanted him given that they only have three natural central midfielders.

One of those is Adam Forshaw, who has not played a game of football since September 2019.

So you can’t even really count him, so that leaves Leeds with just two natural central midfielders – which could explain why Rodrigo, a natural striker, has been playing mainly as an attacking midfielder since he joined the Whites.

However, if Hay is to be believed, although Leeds don’t have that many options in central midfield, it doesn’t look like they will be signing anyone in this transfer window and are prepared to wait until the summer.

We will have to see how that goes, but we feel that the Whites could do with another central midfielder just to provide another option.

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