Joe Thomlinson, who works as a presenter for Football Daily and Sky Sports, spent some time talking about a potential Leeds United move for Udinese midfielder Rodrigo de Paul on a recent video from the Football Daily YouTube channel.
In this video, the presenter assessed one prominent transfer rumour for each Premier League club. Once he worked his way to Leeds United, he shared his thoughts on the possibility of the Yorkshire club signing De Paul, who they were linked with back in the summer transfer window and they’ve been linked with once again this month.
Thomlinson shared that he doesn’t think the Whites are likely to sign the £31.5m-rated Argentinian this month, however, he did say that it could be a smart move for Marcelo Bielsa’s side in the summer, explaining that he feels De Paul could offer competition to Kalvin Phillips in the defensive midfield position at Elland Road.
He said: “I don’t think it’ll happen in January, I think that move would get priced well out in January and Leeds have already got a few attacking midfield options in the likes of [Mateusz] Klich, [Pablo] Hernandez, Rodrigo – maybe they need a bit more support for Phillips in the deeper role – we know Rodrigo de Paul plays a little bit deeper than an advanced ‘10’, but that might work for Leeds.
“I think in the summer it would be a smart signing, but in January, I just don’t see it happening.”
Will Leeds ever sign De Paul?
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NO
TIF Thoughts on what Thomlinson had to say about a potential Leeds United move for De Paul…
The Yorkshire Evening Post’s Graham Smyth recently shared that he doesn’t see Leeds making any signings this month, so perhaps Thomlinson would be correct in saying that this move is unlikely for January.
However, it does appear as though De Paul is a fairly long-term target of his compatriot in the Elland Road hot seat since this is the second transfer window where the Whites have been linked with a move for the 26-year-old, so maybe the presenter is also wise not to rule out the possibility of this deal happening in the future, especially as even De Paul himself suggested he would be open to the switch, back in the summer transfer window.
De Paul, primarily a central midfielder, has played in the defensive midfield position on a few occasions this term and Phillips is Leeds’ only natural defensive midfield option registered in the first-team squad, while they also only have three natural central midfielders, per Transfermarkt, one of whom, Adam Forshaw, has been out of action for over a year.
So, you could argue that De Paul would be a smart signing for the Whites, as Thomlinson has, and it will be interesting to see if they do go back in for the Argentinian in the future.