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Leeds United made bigger bid for Cheick Doucoure, Crystal Palace still win race
Leeds United failed in a late bid for Lens midfielder Cheick Doucoure despite making a higher offer than Cystal Palace, according to Alan Nixon.
Doucoure has been a long-term target for The Eagles and now looks set to complete his move to Selhurst Park.
With Kalvin Phillips joining Manchester City, Leeds are now in the market for a new midfielder and Nixon reports that they made a late move for Doucoure, but Patrick Vieira sealed the deal with a phonecall.
Writing on his official Patreon page on Sunday (03 July), Nixon shared a late attempt from The Whites to win the race for his signature.
“Palace landed Cheick Doucoure from Lens for £18.5million, a deal we first revealed on May 1, and Derby babe Malcolm Ebiowei so they have funds to compete,” he wrote.
“Doucoure stood by Palace despite a late and bigger bid from Leeds United when Patrick Viera called him to make sure he joined.”
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Where now?
Leeds’ late failed bid for Doucoure should not worry fans too much as he has always looked set for a move to Palace.
As Nixon said in his post, talk around Doucoure moving to Palace has been swirling for some time and there was little chance of Vieira being deterred in his chase for the player.
The news of Leeds’ late bid for the Malian midfielder comes as a surprise to some, given that Leeds have a good chance at signing Tyler Adams.
The Daily Mail reported on Sunday evening (3 July) that Leeds will bid for the American international within the next 24 hours.
Fabrizio Romano backed this up on Monday morning, reporting that Leeds will bid £12.9million for Adams as a direct replacement for Phillips.
Jesse Marsch knows Adams inside out after their time together at both New York Red Bulls and RB Leipzig together.
A move for him would make much more sense for Leeds, so their late bid for Doucoure is a confusing one.
However, it at least shows that Leeds are willing to reinvest the money from the Phillips sale and they are ready to compete for top players.
In other Leeds United news, the club are set to finalise a move for RB Salzburg star Mohamed Camara.