Journalist Phil Hay has insisted that Leeds United’s chances of Cody Gakpo have all but vanished following their summer transfer interest.
It was a very ambitious move from Victor Orta and Leeds late in the summer transfer window when they tried to land Gakpo ahead of other Premier League clubs, but the winger and PSV Eindhoven decided against parting ways.
Andrea Radrizzani even tweeted in the summer that Leeds would continue to work on Gakpo, hinting that they could go back in for the winger during January, but Hay believes it would be a fruitless task if they did so.
This is because Gakpo now appears to be destined for bigger and better things, as Hay explained on The Phil Hay Show.
He said: “I’ve been chatting to somebody about him last week and I think the feeling is more and more that he’s gravitating towards the type of club that you thought he would gravitate towards if he had a good season and if he had a good World Cup.
“He’s done that classic thing of remaining where he was, teams who went for him not signing him – Leeds included – and then his form just exploding; he’s had a really strong start to the season.
Should Leeds still try and sign Gakpo?
Yes!
No!
“And it’s not that Leeds aren’t still interested in him, it’s not that Leeds wouldn’t love to take him, it’s not that they’re not still talking about it, there just is a general feeling that it’s going to be somewhere else [he goes].
“I think we said that straight after the transfer window closed, that if it was a good season for him, then it was hard to see how Leeds were going to stay in the running.”
TIF Thoughts on Leeds United’s interest in Cody Gakpo…
It’s no surprise why Leeds were so desperate to land Gakpo, as this season, he’s only gone on to prove he is one of the top young players playing outside one of Europe’s top five leagues, having already registered 23 goal involvements across all competitions.
Given how lacklustre Leeds have been in the final third of late – with just four league goals in their last five games – they will likely be looking on very enviously at Gakpo tearing it up domestically and in Europe, and wish they’d been able to land the winger now being tipped with moves to the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Real Madrid.
While Leeds may well still hold a very keen interest in Gakpo and would love to sign him as Hay suggests, he looks set for clubs with European ambitions and the potential of winning silverware, whereas Leeds are currently more focused on looking over their shoulder instead of up the table.