Phil Hay has made a fresh claim on Leeds United’s search for a new central midfielder this summer as he appeared on the latest episode of The Phil Hay Show.
Someone they have been linked with from Serie A following Rodrigo De Paul’s move to Atletico Madrid is Nahitan Nández from Cagliari, who has a market value of £19.8 million (according to Transfermarkt).
Will Bielsa stay at Leeds?
Yes!
No!
If Marcelo Bielsa is in search of a new central midfielder, it may well be to combat the problem of playing without Kalvin Phillips, as the Whites managed to win just two of the nine games Phillips missed in the Premier League last season.
Leeds fans may be feeling a sense of deja vu this summer if the club decide to pursue Nandez, as Hay explained.
He said: “The Nandez one is fascinating, because it’s got shades of De Paul, that – and it’s also reminded me a little bit of Erick Pulgar, the player at Fiorentina.
“If you think back to last summer, there was a lot of talk in Italy about [Erick] Pulgar, particularly locally around Florence, and reports saying that he was packing his bags, he was about to get on the plane, he was one step away from joining Leeds.
“And you would speak to Leeds and they would say, ‘He’s not for us, Pulgar. He’s a good player and it’s not a case of saying that he’s not talented and doesn’t have something about him, but he’s not a player we’re going to sign,’ and he wasn’t in the end.”
TIF thoughts on the Nandez to Leeds links…
Nandez would arrive as an already established player for both club and country, as he can boast 222 club appearances in three different countries as well as 41 caps for Uruguay so he would be first-team ready.
There have been reports suggesting that Nandez has a release clause of £30 million, and if that’s the case, Leeds will have to decide whether or not he’s worth that amount of money as Hay went on to confirm that fans should not expect another huge splurge of spending like last year.