ESPN: Leeds to table offer to sign £25m man in permanent deal by Monday
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to sell Dan James in a possible £25m deal to fund a move for Jadon Sancho, according to ESPN journalist Mark Ogden.
However, the Man United board are yet to be convinced.
The report claims that sources at the club have told ESPN that Solskjaer doesn’t think Dan James can make it at United.
It also says that while United have already rejected a loan offer from Leeds, the Whites are readying a late bid to buy James before the Monday deadline.
One big problem for Leeds is that executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward is against the move.
The report says, “Sources have told ESPN that the United hierarchy believe it would send a negative message of the club’s ability to develop players if they allow a young signing to leave the club so quickly, even though a £25m deal would represent a £7m profit on James.”
Deja Vu
This is really going to be a bad case of deja vu for Leeds fans.
Leeds nearly signed James back in January 2019 only for a bid to take the player on a permanent deal from Swansea to fall through at the last minute.
It seems that there’s a big chance of history repeating itself if the Man United board are against selling James.
The £25m is a massive increase in the price that Leeds were going to pay back in January.
The price then was reported to be £8.5m and despite not breaking into the United team, that price has almost tripled now.
United paid £16m for James from Swansea last summer.
The money is there to do the deal after a £20m move for Michael Cuisance broke down on Thursday night.
The fear that Leeds fans will have – rightly so – is that Leeds will put all their eggs in one basket and fail to land James again.
It was thought that had Leeds strengthened in January 2019, that they might have been promoted a year earlier than they were.
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