David Woods

Wed 22 January 2020 13:14, UK

Leeds United fans have been hit with mixed news from BBC journalist Adam Pope. 

First the bad and in a major blow to their transfer plans, Pope has reported that Southampton have rejected a third offer for Che Adams.

The offer was for a loan, with a “sizeable” fee, with an option to buy the player if Leeds get promoted.

The fee was said to be £20m, which is a big increase from the sums of around £12-£15m that had been mentioned before.

However, there was one bit of good news – Man City winger Ian Poveda is finally set to sign this week.

He will be the second signing of the window after Elia Caprile joined and it means Leeds have beaten off competition from Serie A side Torino.

That would leave Leeds just in need of a striker as the transfer window winds down.

Leeds have been holding onto the Adams deal for a long time, with reports that they had started negotiations as early as October, anticipating that Eddie Nketiah might get recalled.

However, this could be the fatal blow that pushes them to drop their interest and move onto other targets.

Pope said that the club was “confident” of bringing in a striker and would look at both domestic and international targets.

The only bright side to the Adams cloud is that it will be good to get certainty over the deal.

Leeds had wanted to bring in a striker early in the window but the push for Adams has meant this has dragged on late into the window.

Leeds now have a week-and-a-half to find a new number one target, with Andre Gray a name who’s also been linked.

In other Leeds United news, MotD pundit urges Leeds to sign £40k/wk man over Adams & Gray