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Leeds United likely to miss out on James McAtee loan as he reportedly heads to Championship
Leeds are likely to miss out on the loan signing of James McAtee from Manchester City this summer after Sheffield United emerged as favourites.
The Whites had been linked with the attacking midfielder during negotiations for Kalvin Phillips to move to the Etihad Stadium, but in the end they agreed a deal for Darko Gyabi and decided to watch McAtee’s situation from afar.
Phil Hay shared that Leeds were hopeful of returning for him later in the window to get a deal done, with City still unsure on whether they would let him leave or not.
But after receiving lots of enquiries for the 19-year-old a decision has been made to allow him to go and get regular first-team football elsewhere, with Championship club Sheffield United now made favourites to do a deal.
A report from the BBC’s Mike Minay says there would be no option to buy in the deal, and with a gaping whole in the team following Morgan Gibbs-White’s return to Wolves it seems to be a good bit of business.
For Leeds though, it means they will miss out on bringing in an excellent attacking addition to their squad during a period where they’re keen to bolster their options.
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Jesse Marsch has been adamant that a new attacker will be brought in, and the attention has seemingly been on first-team proven talent at this point.
However McAtee would have represented a great opportunity to bring in an exceptional talent and mould him in the way they want to play, with the hope of getting a permanent deal done in the future if he became available.
A move to the Championship however lessens that opportunity for next summer, with the player more than likely to return to Man City and try to break into the team there if he performs as expected with the Blades.
After missing out on Charles De Ketelaere and so far struggling to do a deal for any other attacker, this is another blow for Marsch and his squad with the season curtain raiser closing in.
Currently just Patrick Bamford and Joe Gelhardt are senior striker options and with Bamford’s injury record and Gelhardt’s lack of first-team experience that is not ideal. This is another issue that needs addressing, but McAtee won’t be the answer.
In other Leeds news, major transfer decision made after big announcement on Tuesday